A Daughter's Dream
by TheCupcakeViking
Summary: Oh, the joy of being reborn into the Narutoverse. My name is Amari Kazumi and I'm the cause of my father's stress, anger, joy and pride along with the pissed off shinobi I supposedly insulted, so now they're coming to kill me. Oh, and I'm trying to save all the people who didn't deserve to die, somewhere in between. Semi-drabble. OC/SI
1. Prologue

**Beta: **I don't have one although I'm looking for one.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or any of the characters related to the series. I do, however, own the plot and the OC's in this story.

**Warning: **None, really. Not even a single bad word ...

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My mother was no prestigious woman at all. She was a civilian, having close to zero chakra and was nothing out of the ordinary. She had golden-blonde hair with gray-blue eyes and a nice heart-shaped face. Her nose were small and could describes as 'cute', her mouth with full lips, always a rosy color and her skin had was a nice pale. She weren't tall nor small either. Her name was Amari Nami.

Me on the other hand had defiantly more chakra than my mother which gave me the idea that my unknown father had been a shinobi seeking a night of pleasure and that just happened to be my mother providing said pleasure. I had dark brown hair, acid-green irides with no pupils and red sclerae. I got the heart-shaped face from my mother and her nose and mouth too, my skin a nice tan, a stark contrast between me and my mother. I was already taller than most of the kids around here my age but not much, and my name was Amari Kazumi.

Reminding you of someone? Oh yeah, me too, buddy. With no doubt in my mind I could with a security name my oh-so-mysterious father, the missing-nin from Takigakure, and a member of the infamous criminal organization known as Akatsuki, Kakuzu.

Biting my lip and letting out a heavy sigh, I glanced over at my mother, sleeping peacefully, ignorant of the fact that her precious daughter, was, in fact, a criminal's daughter.

Bite me.

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**Oh, hello there. Just got this little idea which drove me to the brink of insanity and back again. Slow updates are to be expected, RL is a bitch and she's not the nicest bitch either. *sigh* Although I will do my best to update without too long in between. **

**I'm completely addicted to Kakuzu for the moment and that's how this little one came to life. This first chapter is kind of short, but it's only a prologue/filler for the next chapter, so please bear with it.**

**The reason for the slow updates are 1) I'm looking for another place for me to live 2) I'm currently a victim of a very evil writer's block 3) I'm suffering from hormones tagging along my pregnancy and making me either angry or just crying for reasons unknown. **

**Review please! **


	2. Chapter I

**Beta: **... nah ...

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or any character related to the series. I only own the OC's and the plot for this story.

**Warning: **Character death, a pedophile snake and language, thanks to Hidan.

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In my previous life I had been a fast learner, naturally curious to everything new and I had made it a habit to know as much as possible about the world around me. I could spend hours with my heads buried in books and I had a memory that should not be laughed at.

Gripping the edge of the low table in my mothers private rooms, I furrowed my eyebrows, intensely staring at the wooden floor. I didn't fall, it was simply the floor attacking me. I was an innocent and I would not sit back and be terrorized by some stupid floor.

Placing a foot in front of the other, I took a step with the support of the table, releasing my death grip on said table, I once again took a wobbly step. For the next seven seconds it seemed like I was going to stay on my to legs and the floor would leave me alone, but just as the thought ended, the floor attacked me again.

Landing face first onto the damned wood, I pushed myself up to a sitting position and with a frown I rubbed the rather large bump in the middle of my forehead. I had three bumps, all equally sore. Deciding to take a break, I crawled over to the books my mother had left for me while she was working downstairs. I was a half-secret here, since the lady who owned the whore house didn't fancy children that much. A handful of the girls working here, however, knew about me and they seemed to adore me pretty much.

Opening one of the books I started to haul myself through the kanji written down. Thankfully I knew a few words in Japanese before I got reborn into this world, so the reading and writing weren't the hardest part. My mother refused to baby talk to me, when she found out that apparently she had a genius as a daughter, but still insisted to play with me. She talked to me like I was a person and not an infant, so I picked up most of the words here pretty fast and with the things I already knew, I soon said my very first word. As a thank you to her, I said 'kaa-san'. She had been so proud that day and a long while after.

Staring down at the kanji, I found my thoughts circling around Kakuzu, the father of me in this place. I knew him almost as good as I knew myself and wondered if my mother knew exactly who he was. I doubted it, but she was a clever woman so maybe she did.

Kakuzu had been one of the villains in Naruto, killing for the love of money and had a temper fitting an emotional unstable person, which I was in no hurry to tell him, really. He would be the indirect reason for Sarutobi Asuma to die and he had captured Nii Yugito and Matatabi with his partner Hidan. I'd never really given him much thought, but seeing as I was now his daughter, maybe I should find out a little more about him. Maybe even get to know him better.

I wanted to save this world, giving those living here a better future, but Akatsuki had been one of the main villains and they had killed many characters that didn't deserve to die at all. I wanted to save them, Akatsuki too, but I just didn't know how.

"Kazumi-chan?"

I looked up at my mother's smiling face and felt a little guilty. I didn't treat her much like my mother, since the though of actually having a mother was a bit scary and uncomfortable. Her love seemed endless but even family betrayed each other. I felt guilty thinking like that about her, I really did. It was a flaw that apparently had tagged along with me to this world.

"Kaa-san." I greeted and let her lift me up.

I could see she was ill, the glassy eyes and her lightly flushed face. I leaned my head into hers and when her clammy and warm skin touched mine, I knew she had a fever. She hugged me closely and even kissed my forehead before she put me down again. She wobbly made her way to our shared bed, my eyes following her. She was sick, but it was only a fever, nothing harmful or life threatening.

Looking down at the book once again, I couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that something bad would soon happen of off me. That, combined with her wheezing breathing, didn't help the least on my worries.

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I had fallen asleep on the damned floor, the book I had been reading now functioning as a pillow. I groggily sat up. The rooms were dark and I guessed it was night. Looking over at my mother's dark shadow, I absently noticed her breathing weren't wheezing anymore. I made my way to the bed, the uneasy feeling growing bigger by the second. Climbing into bed, tried to decided whether or not I should just climb over her body to my side of the bed.

"Kaa-san?" I called softly, keeping an eye on her. "Kaa-san?"

I reached out to pat her cheek but froze when the tips of my fingers brushed lightly against her skin. She was burning up and when I leaned over her, I noticed her shallow breaths. Staring at the woman lying on her back, her eyes closed and her chest barely rising with each intake of air, I didn't need to be a genius to figure out something was wrong. She would most likely die if she didn't get any help, but what could I do? I was barely one year old physically and my vocabulary was limited at best. But I had to do something. So I did the only thing I could think of.

I screamed loud and high pitched. A couple of seconds passed by and I could hear the sound of muffling voices, yelling, hear the running steps, and then the knocking on the door into my little world. I kept screaming, and the knocking became banging and then people started to shout on the other side.

Two men knocked the door in, momentarily stopping when the light came on and they saw me, sitting on the bed besides my mother and letting out blood curling screams. A young woman pushed by the men and hurried over to my mother, placing a hand on her head, barely sparing me a glance.

"She got a high fever." the woman said without looking over her shoulder. "She needs treatment."

Another woman came over, one of those who knew about me and picked me up. I kept screaming, not as loud as before but still enough to make them understand my distress. The woman leaning over my mother, glanced at me.

"Are the kid hers?" she asked, staring intently at the one holding me.

"Yes. Her name are Kazumi." she answered and stepped back a little.

"I didn't know she had a kid?" the woman said, raising an eyebrow and making it sound like a challenge to answer her.

Three other girls had begun to treat my mother as good as they could, trying to keep her alive until a medic could take over. The woman didn't seem like a nice lady.

"She didn't tell you." the one holding me said.

I think her name was Hana. No matter what her name was, she stepped back when the woman stepped towards her, her chocolate colored eyes on me. She halted when she noticed Hana stepping away. She gave a snort, not very ladylike.

"The kid will have to go. I don't want kids running around here." she said coldly and glared at Hana.

"You can't do that. She's just a kid, barely even one year old." Hana exclaimed, holding onto me more tightly. "She'll never survive outside on her own." she added, staring intently at the other woman.

"I do not care about some illegitimate child. Amari-san will not be allowed to keep her bastard daughter here. I would have found out sooner or later anyway." the woman said and shrugged her shoulders but then frowned, looking down at me. "One week. By then she needs to be out from here."

With those last words, she walked out and disappeared from my sight. What a joyous human being she was. A real sunshine in the dark. Hear the sarcasm?

Hana sighed and hugged me closer, almost squeezing the life out of me. Looking over at my mother she turned around and walked out from the two rooms that had been my whole world the time I had stayed in this world. She took me to her room she shared with another girl, who was already there, sitting on the bed opposite the one on the other side of the room.

"Who's the kid?" she asked and looked at me when Hana placed me on her bed.

"Nami's daughter." Hana sighed and glanced at me with pity.

"Nami-san's daughter?" the girl repeated and walked over to sit beside me. "She looks familiar, don't you think?" the girl added and glanced up at Hana.

"Yeah, well, her father came here one night almost a year ago. Scary looking fellow I remember him clearly." Hana said and patted me on my head. "Kazumi-chan are a small clone of her father. He's a former shinobi of Taki and apparently very rich. Or so I heard."

"So ... What's going to happen to her?"

I found it a little annoying they spoke over my head but the fact that I weren't that old in their world had a lot to do with it. Still, if I had been older, they may not have been so willing to talk about such matters in my presence.

"Nami will have to give up on her. Reika-sama gave her one week before she has to leave. I just hope Nami will survive the fever. It's pretty bad." Nami sighed and laid down in the bed.

Following her example, the girl laid down in her own bed and only seconds passed before I could hear her light snoring. Hana tugged me in and soon her breath became even and she was sleeping. I, on the other hand, didn't sleep very much that night.

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Five days after my mother became sick, I was able to pick up that she was dead. She had been very sick apparently, and the medic that had come to the whore house, hadn't had the knowledge to know how to heal her. A day after that, Hana gathered my few belongings and packed them for me.

"I'm sorry, Kazumi-chan." Hana whispered the night before I had to leave. "I'm so sorry."

Her apology didn't really matter to me, my mother stayed dead no matter how much she said she was sorry. I had to leave the whore house, to live Kami knows where. What if they decided to kill me? To rid the world of a bastard daughter? Hana wouldn't do that, I mean, my mother and her had been pretty close to each other, almost like sisters, but she wouldn't be there to keep an eye on me forever. And what could she possibly do? After all, she was a civilian, no one important.

When the day for my departure came, Hana was moody as hell and kept holding me to her tightly. She snapped at the other whores and even a couple of the customers. She had been caring me most of the day so when a tall, pale man stepped into the building, I was the first noticing him. And I paled remarkably.

His amber eyes swept over the persons present and stopped at me. He narrowed his eyes and the confidently walked over to Hana, whom had noticed nothing. I felt my heart beat faster and fear latch onto my whole being as he neared, wishing for some godly person to let a lighting hit him before he reached me, but before that could happen, he placed a hand on Hana's shoulder, getting her attention.

"What?" she snapped at him, making him raise an eyebrow.

"I was merely wondering about the child. Who's her mother?" he asked staring at me with intense amber eyes.

"She's dead. She died two days ago." Hana said shortly. "Why do you want to know?"

"I know her father. Kakuzu. Has he been informed about her?" Orochimaru asked seemingly without interest.

"No. Nami didn't know how to contact him. Are you a friend of his or something?" Hana asked, taking a step back while narrowing her eyes at him.

Smart woman, now get the hell out of this place. Which she didn't. What a stupid week this was. The creepy smile making it's way onto the Sannin's face made me want to hide in a hole.

"Or something." he answered. "Look, I could take her to him. I'm sure he would be ... _pleased_ ...to meet her." he added.

I begged to differ, especially when Orochimaru was talking like that. Pedophile snake fucker. Hana seemed to think about it and I had this urge to die right in that moment. She was really thinking of leaving me with a pedophile, a crazy ass fucker too obsessed with immortality and young boys to be normal. Just no. That's like the biggest mistake in this entire world, bigger that releasing the Jūbi. I mean, who leaves their best friend's child with a complete stranger looking like a damn snake?

"And you're sure you can take her to him?" Hana asked and I gave her a horrified look.

"I swear on my honor that I will bring her to her father." Orochimaru said smoothly and I wanted to die even more in that moment.

Seems like my lucky stars were dying on me. I felt so helpless I actually started to cry, the two adults actually daring to ignore me.

"Well, if you promise, then let me just talk with Reika-sama." she said and holding me out for Orochimaru to take.

What the fuck was she thinking? Oh, that's right, she weren't. Damn my luck and creepy shinobi looking like snakes. Against all odds, Orochimaru chose to no leave, which I thought he would. He stood perfectly still, sparing me a glance from time to time, patiently waiting for Hana to return. And she did. With the Grumpy Lady. And my bag which was full of all my belongings.

"Miura-san have informed me that you know of the child's father?" Reika asked.

"Yes, Kakuzu-san are a colleague of mine. I was already on my way to meet up with him with my partner Sasori-san. I only came in here to deliver a scroll from Pain-sama." Orochimaru explained, holding out a scroll with his free hand.

"Oh? Nagato sent you here then? Well, give me the scroll then." Reika said and took the scroll. "I only know a few things about the girl, since I wasn't aware she existed one week ago. Her name are Amari Kazumi, she's born June 19th and are ten months old."

"Is that all?" Orochimaru asked.

"Yes. As I said, I only came to learn about her existence a week ago." Reika answered.

"Very well, does she have everything she needs?" Orochimaru asked, nodding to the bag.

"Yes. That is all she has." Hana said and held the bag out towards the snake.

Grabbing it, he turned halfway around, nodding to the two woman and promptly walked out the door, me sitting on his arm and cursing mentally at everything I saw.

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Sasori had been displeased with seeing me with the snake Sannin and even made it clear that he would gladly kill me if I began to annoy him. Orochimaru ignored him and only released his hold on me when they took breaks. His eyes never left me, not even for a moment. I was kind of glad about that, since I could practically feel the killing intent coming from Sasori.

"We will soon be at the meeting point. I take it, you didn't inform Kakuzu-san about the brat?" Sasori asked glaring at me.

"No. After all, where would the fun be in that?" he chuckled making me stare at him.

So I was only a possibility for fun? Geez, what nice thing to say. At least he didn't think of making me a possible suitor for his desire towards young bodies. What a relief.

"You know, Kakuzu may kill her." Sasori said, somehow seeming slightly disappointed with his partner.

Orochimaru shrugged without bothering to answer Sasori, whom didn't seem disappointed enough to bring up the topic about my potential nearing death. I sincerely hoped that karma would bite them hard in their ass someday. Which it would and that's exactly what I would try to save them from. I would just train hard so I could kick their sorry asses one day.

Pushing myself up I felt their eyes on me, watching my attempts at walking. If I wanted any chance of surviving, maybe them believing me to be some kind of prodigy would help me survive. Taking a step forward I waited me to lose balance but as the seconds passed and I stayed up on my two legs, I felt like I was one step closer to my goal.

Before I could think I felt someone lift me up and knew that Orochimaru had lifted me up so we could continue on towards the meeting point.

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"Oi, Kakuzu, the snake and puppet boy are here." Hidan exclaimed and gave a cruel smile.

Kakuzu didn't acknowledge his partner's outburst, but ignored the man and didn't even bother to look up to the two other Akatsuki-members walking towards them. The man currently groaning from the dirt, had a medium bounty on his head and so Hidan had been allowed to perform his ritual on him.

"Oi, what the-" Hidan started to yell, but then cut himself off, cackling like a maniac. "Oh Jashin ... Kakuzu, you fucking got to see this." Hidan called out to his partner.

Kakuzu looked up at the two men walking towards them and instantly noticed a small child in the snake Sannin's arms. The poor child would most likely be destined to a life with experiments performed on it.

The knowing smirk on the pale man's features made him believe that the child for some reason were the reason for his amusement.

"Kakuzu-san, I have to congratulate you. I can't believe you never told anyone?" Orochimaru said in a mocking tone when they were only a few meters away from each other.

"What the fuck?" Hidan exclaimed, finishing his ritual.

"Kazumi-chan, I want you to meet someone." Orochimaru cooed to the small child, which were apparently a girl.

She wasn't so old judging by her medium length hair. A nice dark brown. Much like his own, Kakuzu noticed.

The girl looked up at the Sannin and then turned her head towards Kakuzu and his partner. Hidan instantly started laughing his ass off and Kakuzu himself stared at the girl with eyes like his own.

"I found her at a brothel. Her mother died five days ago." Orochimaru said and then his smirk got wider. "Congratulations, Kakuzu-san. It's a beautiful little girl."

Hidan kept laughing.

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**So what do you all think? I have no beta's so any mistake are to be overlooked or looked mildly upon. Something of the sort. I felt like the ending was a bit rushed but I was starting to run out of inspiration to this chapter, so I had to end it. **

**I know Kazumi are rather cold towards her surroundings, even taking her mother's death lightly, but the reasons why she's like that will be revealed later in the story. Kazumi are a hard to write and I find her personality irritating occasionally.**

**I'm gonna have a daughter in August. I just can't wait! Weeee~**

**Review will make me happy. :3**


	3. Chapter II

**Beta:** Nope.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything related to Naruto. Only the story plot and my OC's are mine.

**Warning:** I wrote this chapter on my iPhone so if there's any misspelling it's my phones fault. It's short this chapter but it's better than nothing.

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I had been through many things in my very short life in both worlds but this was the most humiliating thing I'd ever tried. I was being presented to my father as his daughter, like Simba was being presented to the animals as their prince with Orochimaru playing the role as Rafiki.

I am _not_ happy with being treated or held like this. I tried to make myself look threatening but when Hidan ran out of oxygen and started to make some weird sound like wheezing and cackling at the same time, I was convinced that I looked possible idiotic.

"What is the meaning of this?" Kakuzu asked the Sannin and kept glaring at me and Orochimaru, like he blamed US for my existence.

Well, sorry to be the one that's destroying his life, but it takes a man and a woman to make a baby and since I looked like the damn miser in front of me, I would actually dare say that he had been that man and my mother had been that woman.

"My, what do you mean, Kakuzu-san?" Orochimaru asked with fake concern.

I could feel the wrath and killing intent leaking from Kakuzu's tense body. Orochimaru would make a very bad Rafiki, if I should say so myself.

"Jashin-sama damn you, you old fuck." Hidan cackled, finally being able to get words past his lips. "How much did you fucking pay the whore to sleep with your ugly self?"

He only just got the words past his lips, before his head was rolling on the dirt below their feet. His body fell limply to the ground as he started to scream not very nice words in a high pitched voice.

"How old is she?" Kakuzu asked and glared at me.

"She's ten months old." Orochimaru said and placed me down on the ground. "Her birthday is June 19th."

Kakuzu glared at me, like I was the one at fault, and to that I was tempted to stuck out my tongue at him although I didn't. I weren't sure if I was really lucky or Fate had something worse prepared for me in the future so it was just being nice, so I weren't busy with challenging my already small luck with such a childish action.

"Can she walk?" Kakuzu asked and moved his glare away from me and to Orochimaru.

"Not yet, I think, but soon. She stood up on two legs today and seeing as she is only ten months old, I'd say that she's a prodigy." Orochimaru answered and moved away from me a little.

To emphasize his word I awkwardly raised myself from the dirt and took a small step forward. I didn't fall on my butt so I counted this as one very good thing.

"Little girl." Kakuzu called and I turned my head towards the tall man watching me intently.

He walked over to me and picked me up. He emitted some kind of awkward aura so my guess would be that it's not that often he plays daddy. Honestly, if it had been before I died and was reborn into this world, I wouldn't have thought Kakuzu as daddy material either.

Orochimaru handed over the bag with stuff he had been carrying along with me and after exchanging information about some kind of mission, both Sasori and Orochimaru left. Kakuzu had with much reluctance sewn Hidan's head back on his body and that is how I found myself in a very alarming situation.

"Have you any fucking idea how to take fucking care of a kid? Do you get some shit manual along with children?" Hidan asked and looked at me like I was some kind of rare animal on display.

And that is how I found myself in a situation with two not-so-sane men, discussing how to raise me. Hidan kept saying that I should be raised as a follower of Jashin and Kakuzu kept saying that I should be raised the wa he wanted me to be raised.

I really hate my supposedly lucky stars ...

"I don't know if a manual comes along with a child." Kakuzu answered and grabbed the hand almost poking my eye out. "But I'm pretty sure that if there were, it would defiantly not recommend an unstable individual such as yourself near any kid. I believe that you are what would be called a bad influence."

This was NOT happening ...

"What do you fucking mean with a bad influence? I'm a damn priest, I would be her only chance for redemption. You would be the bad influence here with you ungodly obsession with money." Hidan said with a small pout.

And with that said, the two grown men had started arguing with each other about how they should raise me.

I sighed, something the two men didn't notice and in that moment, I hated my lucky stars even more.

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	4. Chapter III

**Beta: **Not yet, so if anyone is up to the task, throw a PM in my direction.

**Disclaimer: **I own none of the original characters, only the plot and OC's of this story is mine.

**Warning: **There's Hidan. What much more warning do you people need?

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I had been with Hidan and Kakuzu for a few days and damn, those two could argue. I've never ever thought I would actually get to know these two personally, but now, after I had been with them for only a couple of days, I wished strongly and with all my might, that I would go deaf so I could at least not hear them anymore.

"She's your damn offspring, you should fucking wish a chance for her to be fucking redeemed." Hidan declared and snatched me out of Kakuzu's arms.

The much older man merely glared at the immortal priest and snatched me away from him faster than a bullet fired from a gun. He hid me away from the other Akatsuki by placing me under his cloak, so only the top of my dark hair could be seen.

"And that's exactly why I wouldn't want her anywhere near you and your insane religion." Kakuzu countered back and squeezed me a little too tight.

I would die from this eventually and I had a strong feeling it would be before I could kick any of their asses. I hadn't come this far to be squeezed to death because of an argument about me being a Jashinist or not. Glancing over at Hidan, I noticed him pouting and walking a little faster in front of us. After a couple of minutes, Hidan slowed down to walk beside Kakuzu and quickly glanced at me.

"You're aware that you will have to fucking tell Leader at some damn point, right?" Hidan asked casually, one of his painted nails seemingly insanely interesting.

"I know, but for now let me just figure out what to do with her first. After I know that, I will contact Leader-sama and tell him." Kakuzu said and gestured for Hidan that they would make a brief stop.

I had a suspicion about these little breaks they took so often. I had noticed that Kakuzu always seemed to think that if he took a short break and then left me when they would continue; I would disappear from his life. So far, he had only left me alone for a little more than half an hour before regretting and turning around to come back after me.

Putting me down on the ground, I pushed myself up and practiced my walking. I was now able to walk completely although I looked rather stupid if I should take a guess from Hidan's expression. I couldn't run yet but with practice, I would soon enough be able to.

"She seems pretty fucking stubborn." Hidan remarked as he watched me walk around in tiny circles.

"Indeed she does." Kakuzu agreed with him and watched me intently.

He always seemed to watch me to try and find something about me he wouldn't like, giving him an excuse to leave me completely. Well, I would be damned if I gave him one single excuse for leaving me out here to be an easy target to wild animals or a pedophile or killer-shinobi.

"Are you going to fucking keep her?" Hidan asked and I stiffened shortly before forcing mys attention back to my walking-practice.

But the answer I wanted so badly to hear, would apparently not come this time because Kakuzu didn't answer and instead he walked over to me and picked me up. He looked down at me and then snorted. Motioning to Hidan, he started walking once more, me sitting on his arm.

"Oi, you old fuckhead, wait for me." Hidan shouted and hurried up beside us.

At least I was content with my life for now. There was no danger at the moment and even though my fate was still unknown, it could have been worse.

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**Sorry for the long wait, people, life has been busy. You guys have no idea how expensive it is to prepare for a child and she's not even arrived yet. It's $743,18 for the crib only, which is a lot of money where I come from. It's half of what I get every month. . Make no mistake people, I love Amaya more than anything in this world, but damn, I need to win the lottery ...**

**Another thing, this chapter is short but I find it hard to write with a writer's block beating the crap out of me like this. I just figured this was better than nothing, right?**

**Thank you, all of you, for the reviews, they make me guilty for forgetting the story sometimes, which brings chapter's like this one to life. And for the people liking the sarcasm in this story, you would love me then. xD I doubt any of you could find a more temperamental, foul-mouthed, sarcastic girl like me. :-) I'm one of a kind, guys. xD**

**Reviews please, they keep the story alive. **


	5. Chapter IV

**Beta: **Nope.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing, everything related to the awesome universe of Naruto, belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Only the plot of this story and OC's belong to me.

**Warning: **Some bad words but surprisingly enough not thanks to Hidan. All words are thanks to Amari Kazumi.

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How long had I been with these two bickering buttheads? Nine days, seven hours, thirty-one minutes and ten seconds. How many times did Kakuzu 'forget' me? Three times.

The first time I had fallen asleep when they took a break and when I woke again, they were gone. Kakuzu came back after thirty minutes.

The second time was only two days after the first incident. Hidan had convinced Kakuzu that we needed to sleep at an inn. The main reason for the argument to actually succeed? I was too young to sleep outside all the time and at this rate, I would fall sick and die. When I woke up the next morning, they were gone. It took eight ours roughly before Hidan came and picked me up.

The third time was yesterday. We had taken a short break, Hidan and Kakuzu had gotten into a huge argument, once again about how to raise me, and they had departed in two different directions, this time honestly forgetting about me. Kakuzu had come only two hours after they left and picked me up.

My life for the moment was nice but the incidents where he forgot about me, was becoming a pain in my ass and honestly, I could do without them. I mean, come on. What kind of parent forgets about their child? Well, missing Taki-nin that had lived almost a century apparently did. Maybe he was starting to get old. Yeah, I know he's old but _older_. In my previous life, I had a great-aunt who kept forgetting all kinds of things, as she got older and older. Once she thought my name was Beatrice and I was her mother. That was scary.

Kakuzu was old now, like really old. I heard Hidan teasing my father with his age and that eighty-one was old. I had to agree, because, honestly, it's really old. In this world I was almost one year old, which means he was eighty when he met my mother. Sure, he looked great despite all those years, but damn, that's a little old to be a father.

"Kazumi." Kakuzu suddenly said and looked up from the stack of money he was counting.

My mind had drifted off to somewhere weird, because the sound of his voice made me jump. He raised an eyebrow at me, but then motioned for me to come sit with him. I hesitantly walked over to him and sat beside him. After a couple of seconds passed, he lifted me into his lap.

I laid my head back and looked up at him, but Kakuzu simply denied returning my glance. So instead I grabbed the front of his shirt-thing and stood up, patting his cheeks childishly. I just had to do it. He watched me curiously poke the threads on his face. For once, he had removed the mask, headwear and his Akatsuki cloak, letting the world see his true form. It was painfully obviously that I was his daughter.

"Kazumi," he said and looked down at me sternly, grabbing my hand and placed so I sat in his lap once more. "Focus." He told me and pointed to the stupid paper he loved so much.

Hidan was out somewhere to do only Jashin knows what, so this quiet peacefulness was something I enjoyed immensely. Deciding to humor the man that was my father in this world, I looked at the stack of money and listened to what he told me as he slowly returned to counting the money. I have to admit, some of the things that came out of his mouth regarding money, wasn't that bad. Some of the tips to make money last longer was quite good actually. Therefore I spent most of my day with my father, counting money, until Hidan came back and immediately broke the quietness.

Kakuzu still had me in his lap and it didn't look like he would push me away any time soon, so I leaned on his leg and relaxed my body. Soon after that I fell asleep, lulled to sleep by Kakuzu's deep rumbling voice.

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**Hello everyone. **

**This chapter came to life this fast, ONLY because of you guys, my lovely readers. So THANK YOU for inspiring me and THANK YOU for following, favorite and review this story. Love you all to pieces. **

**Reviews people, they inspire me. **


	6. Chapter V

**Beta: **Nope, and with this speed it's never going to happen ...

**Disclaimer: **You know it people, I own nothing but the OC's and plot bunnies of this story ...

**Warning: **... This one is difficult. I've put the rating to T for this story, but maybe this chapter needs an M-rating instead? Continue carefully, it's maybe not suited for all readers ...

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_The boy stood in front of me, the image of him not very clear, like if he was fading slowly. The only thing I could really be sure of was the honey colored eyes that held so much sorrow; I was literally choking on it. He stood hovering over a coffin, a beautiful white coffin. Something told me that I wouldn't want to know what was inside that coffin or rather, who was inside the coffin but my feet started walking on their own, towards the boy and the white coffin. _

"_You were too young to die, sweet sister." The boy said and the uneasiness now had a firm grip on my heart. "I was supposed to die before you, I am the oldest one after all." He added and the sorrow strengthened in his voice. _

_I wanted to stop, I really did, but my feet wouldn't listen to my brain and kept walking me towards the boy._

"_But you saw too much. Unfortunately …" the boy said and hung his head. _

_I was in front of the coffin now, beside the boy. I tried not to look down, to see the dead body lying inside of it, but now it was my heads turn to defy my brain. The sight that met me was disgusting and I could feel the urge to vomit. _

"_You saw too much, sweet sister. I only did what had to be done." The boy told the milky white girl lying in the coffin. "I had to do it, but it was mercy, wasn't it?" _

_Mercy? The girl, no older than thirteen, maybe fourteen, was bruised in a way that told tales of the many beatings she had gotten. Her eyes was nothing but bloody, empty holes and her blonde hair had red streaks in it, thanks to the two wounds in her head. Blood was slowly seeping from half a dozen wounds on her upper torso, most likely caused by something sharp. _

"_You saw too much, so I had to do it, really." The boy mumbled and I got this feeling that he seemed eerily familiar in a way he shouldn't seem. "But your sickness would have killed you anyway, you know? No one wanted to tell you, but I knew it." His voice had a crazy edge to it now, and for some reason _I _was suddenly the one lying in the coffin, looking up at him with my no longer existing eyes. _

_His own eyes was darkening with madness and his voice got higher, more hysterical. _

"_You saw me kill her, so I had to kill you too. I had to keep the secret, no matter what." He said and shook his head, as if he was trying to shake away some bad memories. "But I didn't enjoy it, like I usually do, sweet sister, no; don't think of it like that." He said and hid his face with his hands. _

"_You had to die. Moreover, I set you free, I really did. Free from the sickness you always had, free from _your weak body_." _

_I felt something horrible settle in the pit of my stomach, making the urge to vomit so much stronger than before. I looked up at him and watched him pull something that could only be his hair. He was my brother. He had to be. I couldn't remember him, but he had to be my brother. _

"I saved you!_" he suddenly shouted and grabbed my shoulders as he shook me. "I saved you from the pain, do you hear?" he added, his voice so high it hurt my ears and the madness in his eyes scaring the shit out of me. _

"I saved you!_"_

I opened my eyes and sat up with a jolt, noticing Kakuzu hovering over me. For some reason I couldn't help but start crying and the worried look in Kakuzu's eyes would have made me laugh, if it hadn't been for the fear, sadness and hate I felt right in that moment. I had been _killed_ and by my own _brother_, might I add. Kakuzu worriedly picked me up and started talking to me but I didn't want to hear what he was saying. Hidan too came over to us and started to say nonsense about how this was the sign that I needed to be redeemed. Honestly, I could care less about what he or Kakuzu said right now, I was too shocked to get my brain to function right. The words 'I saved you' kept buzzing around my head, joined by the madness and sorrow in those honey colored eyes.

What did he mean with those words, I didn't know, and honestly I wouldn't mind never to find out what he had meant by that. Right now I just needed to distance myself from the dream, no, nightmare, and maybe figure out how to save some of the people I needed to save in this world. When Kakuzu finally got quiet and he had sewn Hidan's mouth together, I snuggled deep into the warm comfy cloak and chest that I had gotten so used to.

I needed to find out a way to survive in this world and to save all those people that could help prevent the war from happening.

Although the dream kept haunting me, I had a bad feeling that maybe surviving in this world wouldn't be as easy as I thought.

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**So what do you think? It was the only inspiration that hit me today and at least we get a little look on Kazumi's past life. I'm not sure what caused this chapter to be like this, it just happened. **

**The nursery is done, all of the clothes Amaya needs is bought, everything is done. Now I'm just waiting for her to decide she's ready to come out and say hello to me. xD A little more than one month, guys, and I will hold my daughter in my arms for the first time. ^^ The time is killing me ... -_-**


	7. Chapter VI

**Beta: **No ...

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but the plot bunnies, Kazumi and the other OC's in this story.

**Warning: **Uh, Hidan? Spelling mistakes, bad grammar, poorly written scenes, this story has it all.

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I had never been much of a believer in anything but pure facts and what science could prove. Sure, I would love to think that there was something more to this world than what meets the eye, but when you grow up the way I had, you stop thinking about anything magical, because magic won't save your ass when you get beaten nor will it suddenly poof food into existence.

So when I one day died, I had expected to stay dead and not open my eyes and find myself in an infants body and, might I add, I had defiantly not expected to get reborn into a world I knew only from books and TV. That's why I had decided not to think too much about any of this, except from saving some people that I found too cool to die.

Although lately, I found it difficult just to think a couple of days forward, partly because of the nightmare about my brother, and all my focus was on the 'what if's'-questions.

I had been with Kakuzu and Hidan for a little more than a month now. Practicing walking and running had been going very good and I could walk a little longer for each day that passed. I knew that in order to save any of those people I so badly wanted to save, I had to be a shinobi but the thought of all the possible near death-experiences that without doubt, would happen sooner or later, I found it hard to focus on anything but my own survival, because no matter how strong those two were, I was never completely safe.

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I could hear Hidan cackle like a maniac somewhere behind me. He had gotten some of the poor man's blood and was more than likely enjoying himself. Kakuzu on the other hand, looked like one that was so close to die out of boredom, I found it kind of difficult to keep a straight face. He stood in front of me, protecting me with his own body while also fighting off anyone who dared attack him. Those tentacles was kind of cool …

I'm not so easily scared, or so I liked to think, but when another man got killed by the hands of my father and the screams of Hidan's victim, I found myself scared shitless. It had been completely peaceful up until now, and even though I had seen both of them fight on TV, it wasn't anywhere near as funny or cool when it actually happened in reality.

I could die in this world. Yeah, I could die in the other world too, but given the completely different careers in the two worlds, I found the chances of dying higher here than there. I mean, even the young ones, the genin, had to live their life without knowing what was around the next corner.

How could anyone live like that? I found it extremely hard to think about my own survival, so how in the name of all that's holy, was I supposed to think of all the good things, all the cool people I could one day meet?

When Kakuzu suddenly lifted me up, I was brought back into the world of the livings. I was confused for at short moment, until I noticed the kunai embedded in the dirt where I had just been. So they were actually targeting me now? That was early and I haven't even done anything to any of them.

"Hidan." Kakuzu snarled and I heard Hidan shout something, but the shining weapon kept attracting my eyes and my brain.

I was being targeted now, because of … Because of what? Because of my obvious relation to one of their enemies? Or because I was the weakest one and therefore, logically, the easiest target?

The fact that these shinobi, no older than fifteen or seventeen, was ready to kill an infant to get to their target, was disturbing. It was practically children killing children.

Kakuzu jerked his body back when one of the enemy nin attacked him from his right, the side he was holding me, while he had been fighting another one in front of him. He was limited with his hand signs because of me sitting on his arm so all he could do was dodge and kick.

Suddenly Hidan attacked the one trying to hit me. I couldn't help but look at him like he was an angel sent from above when he with ease parted the boy's head from his body with his scythe. A crazy, psychotic, bloody angel, yes, but an angel nonetheless.

"Want me to take her?" he asked and Kakuzu nodded, his tentacles lifting me up and towards Hidan.

I was taken, but not by Hidan and the person holding me was a complete stranger. I quickly looked around and counted the present enemy nin including the three dead ones. There had been five that had engaged in combat with Kakuzu and Hidan, but suddenly a sixth shinobi had taken me. So he had been hiding and waiting for the right moment to catch me. I glared up at him but he ignored me and instead held his amber colored gaze on my two Akatsuki-members, whom returned his gaze fiercely and, especially Kakuzu, murderously.

"Drop your weapons or the kid dies." The nin holding me commanded, his voice calm and collected without giving a clue about his thoughts or feelings.

"You motherfucking asshole." Hidan cursed out loud but reluctantly he dropped his scythe.

Kakuzu followed Hidan's example but the weapons he dropped was few. I knew he had more hidden on his person, but as long as I didn't die and they didn't die.

"Don't worry, as long as you cooperate with us, I won't find it necessary to kill her." The nin said and placed me on his arm. "But of course I won't let you have her back right away." He added and smiled a cold and calculating smile.

"Give her back or Jashin-sama will damn you all." Hidan shouted but made no move to attack or otherwise movements.

"Ma, you think we're stupid?" the nin chuckled. "The minute we give the kid back, you will not hesitate to kill us and I have no plans of dying today."

I glared up at the man and wished that I had been bigger and stronger, able to fend for myself and not having Kakuzu and Hidan protecting me.

I was weak, dammit.

"If you listen to what I say, then I will drop the kid of in the next town we pass on our way back to our village, but if you don't …" he let the threat hang in the air and it required no genius to figure out what he meant.

And what do I do to fend for myself? I place my head on his shoulder, feigning tiredness and unawareness and take a deep breath. The scream that I release right into his ear, makes him shout and curse, moving his attention away from Kakuzu and Hidan and thereby giving them the distraction they need. And they took the chance.

Kakuzu was in front of the nin faster than my eye could possible see and with a swift motion, he sliced the throat of my capturer while Hidan engaged the two remaining ones with a high pitched scream. They were no match for him and soon they too were dead.

Hidan kept laughing after they were all finished, and constantly told Kakuzu about the look of utter shock on the face of the nin that had hold me but Kakuzu didn't take part in his joy. He was as silent as the grave and he would occasionally glance down at me with questions and awareness in his eyes. Maybe Hidan didn't find it weird, but Kakuzu found the fact that an infant was so aware of her surroundings, she could plan a distraction. He knew that I was smarter than I looked.

I just hoped that it wouldn't be enough to kill me.

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**I just wrote two, informative, long A/N and both time my laptop decided to be a dick and delete them ... I feel like my laptop is hating me ...**

**I love you all to pieces, thank your for your continuing support and the reviews even though I suck at replying to all of them ... **

**I still read them all with a big smile on my face and I appreciate every single one of them and they help keeping this story alive. **

**Reviews, lovelies, they keep the story going ... **


	8. Chapter VII

**Beta: **I have yet to find one ... Until I have found one, then please live with the horrible mistakes I've made.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing and most likely I never will. Only Kazumi, the plot bunnies and the other OC's are mine.

**Warning: **This chapter contains Hidan so there you have the warning. Oh, and the word "sexual release" is in here too somewhere.

**This chapter is written in third person view (Kakuzu). I thought it would be a nice exchange from the usual Kazumi-view and with this, hopefully you'll be able to see it from his point of view too. But don't get too used to it, I don't plan to do this very often.**

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He had never imagined himself as a father and he had never wanted any children, a wife or anything alike. He had five hearts but even they needed to be replaced from time to time, when his own or one of the others was killed off. With his five hearts, he would in theory live forever too and any children or wife of his would die eventually unless they became like him and even he wasn't quite the monster to wish that for anyone.

He still needed sexual release from time to time but never had he imagined the consequences of shagging a whore at some brothel he knew he would never return back to. Of course Orochimaru had to be there that day when the girl would have been kicked out and of course did the snake deem it necessary to take her and leave the kid with him.

No, he would never had imagined that he would someday be a father, not even if Kami himself had told him. But now, as he looked down at the child sleeping peacefully against his chest, covered by the heavy cloak, he wondered if he could somehow be the father he wanted to be. He wasn't sure when he had started to feel like this, feel the need to protect, love and cherish the kid in any way possible but he had tried to stop it from happening, telling himself that she most likely would die before she reached adulthood, more likely before that time.

He had been so desperate to stop the attachment to her he knew he was starting to feel, he had left her more than once with every intention to leave her for good. She would be better off without him, he was sure of that.

And then they had been attacked. That wasn't anything unusual but now they had a baby along with them and she was targeted. He'd never been so angry in his life and even his partner had been angry at the attacking nin for targeting her, a child which hadn't been tainted yet. He had seen the fear in her eyes so like his own and for a moment, he wished she would disappear just like that so he could return back to his previous life, the life he for some reason couldn't believe he had survived without her.

As he made his way down the hallway of the nearly empty hideout, Kakuzu thought back to that fight. Kazumi had been scared, yes, but she had also been frightfully aware of her surroundings, enough for her to plan a distraction at the very least. He knew that he should report his suspicions to Pain but he also knew that once he did, Kazumi wouldn't live long.

He couldn't bear the thought of her dead which in the end meant that he kept his observations to himself.

"Give her to me, brat." The lazy voice belonging to the Puppet Master was edged with an almost non-hearable anger.

He rounded the corner and saw Hidan and Sasori bickering about Kazumi, the girl sitting on the couch and looking like she enjoyed the whole show happening in front of her. She giggled when Sasori attached his strings to Hidan and made him do some weird dance. The sound seemed to satisfy the redhead as he smirked.

"Oi, you motherfucker, release me right now or I'll sacrifice you to Jashin-sama." Hidan yelled as he fought against the strings furiously.

"Kazumi looks quite pleased, so why don't you just shut that foul mouth of yours and let me amuse her." Sasori stated and smirked even wider when another giggle came from the girl.

Kakuzu quirked an eyebrow. Kazumi had never seemed like she liked the Puppet Master that much but she had always enjoyed to see Hidan in trouble, so he figured that it wasn't because it was Sasori but because it was Hidan being in trouble once more.

"Oi, miser, make this wooden dickhead stop." Hidan yelled and glared at Kakuzu.

"What foul language indeed." Kakuzu noted and crossed his arms. "What did I tell you about swearing in front of Kazumi?" he added sternly and walked over to pick up said girl.

"Shit." Hidan swore under his breath and Sasori smirked wider.

"Don't play with him all day, Sasori, I will after all be the one dealing with his bad mood afterwards." Kakuzu said and walked out of the living room and towards his own room.

Hidan swore loudly and by the sound of Kazumi's giggles she still found it quite amusing to watch the zealot getting in sticky situations.

"Now, Kazumi, you need to stop having fun on Hidan's behalf." He scolded lightly and as he had expected, Kazumi seemed completely unfazed.

She merely stared at him with eyes far too old for an almost one year old. Which reminded him, her birthday was next week. He wasn't sure what he should get for her. It wasn't as if he'd ever tried to buy a birthday present for anyone, a child no less and he suddenly found him in unknown territory.

The idea came to him later that day when he heard the familiar laughter which belonged to the shark nin. His partner had a younger brother, didn't he? He had to have bought something for his brother before he turned into a missing nin. Maybe the weasel knew what he should get his daughter.

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**Hello again my sweet lovelies, it's been a while and for that I apologise. **

**Now, I feel the need to tell you something that hopefully will explain my upcoming absence from . **

**I'm due in 11 days and I can honestly tell you guys that I find it incredibly hard to get around right now. Besides from that, I will be taking a small break from writing when we reach Monday because I want to relax, but until then I will try to get at least one more chapter done as a thank you to all of you for sticking with this incredibly fat and temperamental lady sitting behind the screen and writing these. The story is not done, but don't expect any updates for a while since my entire focus will be on Amaya. **

**Another thing is, the second reason for not having updated the story for a while is because my fingers have swollen (as they apparently can do when one is pregnant) and it hurts if I write too long or uses my fingers too long in general. That's why I haven't updated as well. **

**The last thing I will write here on the bottom is the answer to Kazumi's age. Kazumi was conceived (I have a thing with that word for the time being, it's weird, I know that) when Kakuzu was 80. Kakuzu died when he was 91 in the manga/anime so if we follow the mathematic logic (nice word) she should be around 10-11 years old when Kakuzu and Hidan should die, depending on which date it set their fight with Shikamaru and the others. Therefore she'll be younger than Naruto and all them. Since nothing is for sure about Konohamaru and his teammates graduation age, I will put it to around 12-13 years. Therefore Kazumi will be younger than all of the characters we know.**

**Just remember that Kazumi will not be weaker than any of them except from maybe a select few. She is after all growing up among the Akatsuki and she's living with two missing nin. If she was weak, she wouldn't be able to survive very long seeing as she travels most of the time with Kakuzu and Hidan and therefore will be targeted every time the two of them get's attacked by other nin. She won't be absurdely strong either but I simply deny making her a weak and helpless little girl. **

**Hopefully that will answer most of your questions about Kazumi. :-) **

**Reviews people, I love them and they keep the story going. **


	9. Chapter VIII - Interlude

**Beta: **Nope, not yet and probably never ...

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but Kazumi, the plot and the other OC's in the story.

**Warning: **There's Hidan in here somewhere ... He's surprisingly well-spoken in this chapter, not much swearing.

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**Kisame P.O.V. (third person)**

No one had ever expected a child to be brought into their organization, especially not a child as young as the one sitting in front of him while her father and his partner was out shopping for a birthday present for the little brat. Honestly, when Kisame had first heard about the girl a week and a half ago, he had thought the girl to be nothing but a lie.

However, sitting in front of the kid kind of proved that yes, indeed a kid had been brought into the organization known as Akatsuki, a group filled with highly dangerous, S-ranked criminals. Kisame snorted at the thought of them looking after a kid. They all lived on borrowed time, not knowing whether or not they would live to see another day, so how on Earth were they supposed to keep a kid alive?

Personally, Kisame thought Kakuzu had finally lost it. The old miser had been mumbling to himself about Hidan's sick religion for a time before the kid came into the picture and by taking the kid under his wing, maybe he had lost the last strip of common sense he'd had left? It wouldn't surprise him, really it wouldn't. None of them could really be categorized as sane people in Kisame's opinion.

They were just too insane for that …

The girl in front of him caught his attention when she suddenly snorted and then made a little sound in the back of her throat. It took him a minute or two before he realized the kid was laughing. Looking around to see what on Earth had gotten the girl to suddenly start laughing, he saw absolutely nothing which could possibly have made her laugh.

Looking down at the kid once again, he furrowed his brows. Maybe the kid was going insane? He eyed the girl, still giggling to herself and snorted. She would hold the record then. Not even a year old and already lost her mind.

"You're a weird one, kiddo." He told the girl.

She immediately stopped and if he hadn't known any better, he would actually dare say the kid was glaring at him. The kid wasn't scary or anything but … maybe she wasn't quite normal either. She was after all Kakuzu's offspring and was surrounded by him and his crazed partner nearly all the time. Looking down at the girl, he couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

She was making faces at him and had a pretty good one going on right in that moment. She looked up at him, cross-eyed and with creased eyebrows and her tongue stuck out in concentration. Yeah, she'd defiantly lost it already.

"Welcome to the group, kiddo." He said and ruffled her dark brown hair with a small smile.

The smile quickly vanished as he heard voices down the hallway nearing and he instantly adopted the expression he usually wore.

He still had a reputation to uphold, dammit.

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**Hidan P.O.V (third person)**

The brat annoyed him to no end with her insisting on causing trouble for him all the time. It seemed like the damned kid actually _enjoyed _getting him in trouble. He glared down at the girl walking around, still a little insecure on two legs rather than on all four. She seemed like the reincarnation of purity and innocence but only _he _knew she was really a devil dressed as an angel.

Looking up at him as if sensing him looking at her, he instantly scowled at her when she began to use her secret powers to turn her to her side. The little witch could make the biggest puppy-eyes and sometimes she even forced a few tears forth, making her magic so much more intense.

Blasphemy!

That's what it was.

Gripping his rosary he began to pray to his God, asking for strength to resist the powerful magic the little witch kept casting upon him.

Opening his eyes again, he saw two huge, wet acid colored orbs look up at him along with her lips tugged a little downward. He winced fully expecting the damned kid to open her mouth wide and start to wail her little heart out but surprised him when she raised her arms up towards him.

"What?" he asked rudely and winced when her eyes grew impossibly bigger and got even wetter than before.

Sighing he complied to the girl's magic power and placed his hands under her arms to lift her up. Awkwardly placing her on his lap, he sighed once again. The little witch's magical powers was much stronger than he'd first anticipated. He would have to find some way or another to chase the devil away …

"Nii ̴"

Hidan's attention snapped down to the kid on his lap, faster than a bullet fired from a gun. Had he really heard what he'd thought he had? Looking at the kid, smiling while blowing bubbles with her saliva, he couldn't help but snort.

It was probably just some kind of mind trick. He really needed to be careful. She was, after all, some kind of powerful witch. He was entirely convinced about that …

"Nii ̴" Kazumi sang with a big smile and saliva bubbles in the corners of her mouth.

Charming …

Hidan looked down at the girl. Maybe … just maybe, she wasn't so bad after all. Softly, like a feather, he touched her hair, making the girl beam at him in response. He allowed a rare, genuine smile cross his features before it vanished just as fast as it had come.

Letting the girl stand up and pat his cheeks with fingers covered in saliva, he damned himself to Hell and back. Sending a prayer up to his God once more, he snorted softly to himself.

Yup, the witch had caught him good with her magic. She had spun a web of magical threads around him and he knew in that very moment that he would always look out for her and slaughter anyone daring to hurt her the least.

"_Nii ̴"_

The simple word echoed through his head. He was such a sucker when he allowed a little kid to wrap him around her little, chubby fingers. Yet it didn't bother him the least, not really. He snorted once more. Yup, he really was a sucker.

"Fuck you." He told the girl softly. "Damned witch." He added as an afterthought.

The girl gave him a knowing smile and patted his cheek much like one would pat a dog after it had done something good. He snorted again and stared at the little girl.

"Fuck you indeed."

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**Itachi P.O.V (third person)**

It had only been around six months since Itachi had massacred his entire clan except for his beloved younger brother and since he had been recruited into Akatsuki. He was good at fooling the others and honestly he didn't care much about them. All he wanted was to see his younger brother happy and his village whole.

Was that too much to ask?

He didn't want to admit it but since he had been tasked by Kakuzu to look after his daughter, a small part of Itachi's heart had repaired itself – just a teeny tiny bit. He loved children and if he should say so himself, he was also rather good at handling them.

He guessed Sasuke had been a good practice.

The girl, so much like her father in looks, was walking around his room, her eyes big and curiously looking at everything in the room. When she reached out to grab a his kunai pouch he had thrown on the bed, he swiftly snatched it from her hands. Kazumi blinked owlishly and looked up at him, repeating the action.

He could see what Hidan had talked about when he mentioned "puppy-eyes no jutsu" …

She really did know how to make the biggest and wettest puppy eyes …

"No, Kazumi-chan. You can't play with weapons." He scolded her lightly. "What if you'd cut yourself?"

The girl looked up at him with a blank stare and he smiled faintly. Her behavior was so much like a childs and yet she seemed to somehow be far older than she really was.

She was a mystery to him.

With a heavy sigh, the little girl plopped down to the floor and he watched with amusement glinting in his eyes. The girl had a dramatic side to her. He had a strong feeling that they would defiantly see much more to her dramatic tendencies in the future.

Kazumi sighed deeply and made a small, suffering sound in the back of her throat, giving him a meaningful glance. Chuckling, he crouched down and picked her up, standing up straight again.

"Very well then. But only one more time and then it's time for you to go back to your father." He told her and she gave him another blank stare.

Grunting, he quickly made his way outside and carefully placed her on the grass. He took a few steps back and allowed his entire body to disperse into a whirlwind of black, crows. The little girl whined in delight and he couldn't help but secretly enjoying her happiness.

It took a while before any of them went back inside the hideout.

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**\\(•_•)/**

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**Hello my awesome readers. **

**I am so, so, so sorry for my sudden disappearance. I just suddenly found myself drowing in a sea of dirty diapers and sleepless nights ... Amaya is such an easy baby, almost never crying unless she's really unhappy about something so yeah, I think I got myself a very easy daughter. Although, she defiantly does have a temper ... **

**Well, back on track!**

**I decided to write an Interlude - or that's what I think they're called, right? Soooo ... Here it is, my very own attempt to write a Interlude. This one only have Kisame, Hidan and Itachi but I ran out of ideas for me to continue so I kind of just ended it with Itachi. That's doesn't mean the rest of Akatsuki wont get a Interlude too, it just mean that it's not right now. **

**I purposely didn't set a specific time for when the above would happen in the story but still set a time limit for when it could happen. Does it make any sense? No?**

**I didn't mean to keep the three Akatsuki-members entirely in character - but once more, I have no idea how I did. **

**Is it good? Bad? Somewhere in the middle?**

**Tell me please.**

**Reviews peeps, reviews. I love them. And I love all of you too. xD**

**Keep on right side of the Force, folks. I can tempt you all with awesome dance off's, funny (albeit a little dark) jokes and I promise there will always be an open spot. Just don't ask how the job became available, okay?**

**LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!**


	10. Chapter IX

**Beta: **Let's face it, it ain't gonna happen ...

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing related to Naruto, only Kazumi is mine to abuse as I see fit.

**Warning:** Nothing.

**A semi-importan A/N at the bottom ... I would almost call it a hissy fit actually ...**

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**\\(•_•)/**

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My birthday came and went and I have to admit it had been a nice day for my very first birthday in this world. I had even received presents from every single member of the group except from the leader duo but that didn't surprise me at all.

Hidan had given me a rosary much like the one he had himself, and especially Kakuzu hadn't been that happy about me receiving such a gift from the priest but only after, when he had brought me back to our shared room, had he taken it and hid it away.

I guess he wasn't much for letting me convert to Jashinism. I can't say I was angry about that.

Kisame had given me three dull kunai and when his present had been opened up, Kakuzu had sent him a withering glare but Kisame hadn't been bothered by it. The weapons were also taken and hidden away from me the minute we had come back to our room.

Itachi gave me a black kitten with huge yellow eyes and I couldn't help but squeal in delight when the kitten had been placed down in front of me. I had always been such a sucker for animals, especially baby animals. Kakuzu had grudgingly allowed the small fluffy creature to enter our room, but only because I threw a hissy fit when he tried to shoo the kitten out of the room.

Sasori had given me a doll. It hadn't been a surprise and neither was it a surprise when he made the doll dance with his chakra strings but still, it was a gift I really liked and by the smug look on his face, Sasori was immensely satisfied that I liked it.

Kakuzu gave me a bunch of new clothes, something which I was in dire need of and he also gave me a money bank where he told me I could put the money I would earn in.

I had wanted to laugh at that but I didn't. I had been even less surprised that he had given me something related to money than Sasori had given me a doll. It seemed like Hidan had expected the same as he had instantly thrown a tantrum that would make even a five-year-old pale in comparison. He had kept shouting about how Kakuzu would condemn me to a Hell once I died if he tried to make me like him.

He'd gotten his head cut off and his mouth sewn together and so he had screamed nothing but muffled curses for a very long time. It had been hilarious and I had tried to stop the oncoming urge to laugh but when Kisame decided to use Hidan's head as a ball and threw it at the wall where it would bounce back to him, I had lost it and they had all smirked at my obvious amusement.

It had been a good day.

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**\\(•_•)/**

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It had already been half a year since that day and I spoke and understood the Japanese fairly well and could also walk and run without falling on my butt every other minute. It had been a long time since I had been this happy, I would admit that much.

"Tou-san?" I called when I woke up and couldn't see him anywhere.

I climbed out of bed, because I refused to let anything hold me back, and trotted over to the door. Now, I had grown to be a very tall child, obviously taking after my father and so it wasn't that difficult to reach the door knob and open the door. I stuck my head out and looked up and down the hallway but saw no one and for a moment I contemplated whether or not it would be a good idea to wander off without my father's or anyone else's knowledge.

Oh well, they would find me eventually. Besides, Kakuzu would probably tear down the entire place if I got lost and he couldn't find me right away.

With a shrug I entered the hallway and closed my eyes, spinning around while counting to twenty. I stopped, opened my eyes and saw I was mostly facing the left hallway.

As any good person with no sense of direction would do, I chose to walk right instead of left. It was easier that way. And so, my journey inside the ridiculously big hideout began.

It didn't take me long before I had to admit to myself I was lost. I sighed and sat down on the floor, trying to figure out where in the world I was at the moment. I didn't even understand why on Earth Pain had thought it would be a great idea to have such a huge place to only a handful of people. I looked to my right and left and stood. With a sigh, I decided to go left, the opposite direction of where I had come from.

It was no surprise that I ended up more lost than ever before.

"Oh, are Kazumi-chan lost?"

I gave a shout of surprise and whirled around only to see Tobi in his lollipop mask stand a little way from me to my right with his head slightly tilted left.

"Lollipop-chan." I said and gave a huge smile. "Can you take me to tou-san?" I asked and stared up at him with huge eyes.

"Aa. Your tou-san is currently working himself into a hissy fit, Kazumi-chan. Hidan have been tasked with keeping him occupied while the others is trying to find you." Tobi chirped and danced over to pick me up.

"Poor Hidan-oji." I said.

I really felt bad for the immortal man. When Kakuzu had ventured past his little insecurities about being a father, he slowly morphed into an overprotective one. If I was missing even a minute, he was ready to declare war on everything in his attempt to find me.

It was nice that I was actually loved this much by someone, but damn, the old miser was positively lethal without me going missing and when I did, it was always Hidan's job to make sure Kakuzu didn't go on a killing spree in his worry.

In no time, I was in the living room and watching Kakuzu torture Hidan. Of course the Jashinist only laughed and openly enjoyed all the pain.

"Tou-san." I called.

Kakuzu whirled around and stalked over to me, looking every bit like a Shinigami. Dammit, someday I would die if I kept getting lost.

"Where. Have. You. Been?" Kakuzu hissed at me without looking at Tobi.

"I woke up and you weren't there, tou-san. I only tried to find you." I whined and pouted when Kakuzu's tendrils grabbed me.

"You have been gone for exactly forty-four minutes, Kazumi." Kakuzu said with narrowed eyes as he placed me on the couch and hovered over me. "Where have you been?"

" … " I didn't answer because I really thought it embarrassing that I had gotten lost in my own home.

"Kazumi."

"I got lost." I sighed and looked down as I fidgeted on the couch.

Kisame, Itachi and Sasori had returned from wherever it was they had been looking for me and they all gave me a blank look.

"Damn, kiddo, you have no sense of direction whatsoever." Kisame said and went over to Hidan, who was still in Heaven. "How can you get lost in your own home?" he added as he watched the albino man on the floor with a blissful expression. "That's just disturbing."

"Heck if I know." I muttered and shrunk under the stare of Kakuzu.

"You're grounded." He deadpanned.

"What?" I exclaimed. "Why?"

"For getting lost." Kakuzu answered and picked me up to carry me back to our room.

"How can I get grounded for that?" I whined and pouted at him.

"If you could just start developing a sense of direction, I wouldn't have to ground you in the first place." Kakuzu said and his tone clearly indicated that there were no room for arguing.

"You should ground Pain-oji instead." I grumbled and glared at the floor. "Why does he need such a big place anyway?"

"I can't ground him, Kazumi. Still, you need to learn your way around here. You keep saying you want to be a kunoichi, yet, if you keep getting lost, just how will you manage to be that?" he asked and I huffed my cheeks in response.

"I would improvise." I said and kept glaring at the floor.

Kakuzu gave me an unimpressed look and opened the door to our room. He placed me on the bed and went to bring out his money and the papers on the economy of the Akatsuki. I glared at his head as he discarded his cloak and mask and sat down on the floor to count the money.

"Tou-san?" I asked and looked over at him from the bed.

He grunted in response without even as much as looking at me.

"Will you train me?" I asked and he halted briefly in his counting to glance at me before returning to his counting.

"When you get older, yes." Kakuzu answered and I pouted.

"Why not now?" I asked and heard him sigh.

"You are only one-and-a-half-year-old, Kazumi. You shouldn't even be able to speak so well as you do now, neither should you be able to understand as much as you do." Kakuzu said.

I knew his opinion about my declaration of becoming a kunoichi, but he hadn't tried talking me out of it – at least not yet – since it would make him a hypocrite. How could he as a shinobi deny his own offspring to choosing the ninja way?

He couldn't. Besides, I was stubborn, something I had most defiantly inherited from my late mother.

"How much is older?" I asked.

"Older, means when you are at the very least three years old." Kakuzu said. "Preferably older or better yet, never." He added in a mutter.

I chose to ignore that.

"Will the others train me?" I asked and scratched my chin.

"I could probably ask Leader-sama to convince them into teaching you, if that's your wish." He answered and paused briefly in his money counting to write something down.

A couple of minutes passed between us in silence before I sighed and jumped down from the bed. I walked over to him and sat down in his lap and snuggled into him. I really liked having a father.

"When will you teach me how to read and write?" I asked.

He didn't answer right away and for a moment I thought he hadn't heard me but then he sighed and paused in his counting to look down at me. I raised an eyebrow at him. That sigh had sounded very much like he had been tasked with finding one specific needle in the entire world.

"Why are you so busy growing up, Kazumi?" he asked and I frowned.

_Because if I don't, all my precious people will die._

"Because I want to protect my precious people." I said and looked away from him.

I couldn't tell him the entire truth, at least not now, but I didn't want to lie to him either, so I decided to stick with the semi-truth. I couldn't tell him I wanted to protect my precious people _and _save the world from a 'doom-and-gloom' future. I would probably be regarded as insane if I did that and this world already had plenty of insane people in it without adding me to the group.

"Aa." Kakuzu answered and didn't pursue it any further.

After that I watched in silence as Kakuzu counted the money and I found myself quite liking the comfortable silence that was currently between us. I wanted to always feel this way but I also knew that if I didn't do anything to actively change this world, then sooner or later it would all come to an end.

While Kakuzu counted his money, I was slowly beginning to make a plan. I had to be very careful how to do this and I wouldn't be able to actually _do _anything before my training began. I sighed and smiled at the thought of a happy ending.

Too bad this wasn't a fairy tale then.

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**\\(•_•)/**

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**Hello sweet ones. **

**I'm sorry for the long wait for this chapter but damn, I hate this one. I've had a ridiciously hard time writing this chapter and I'm not at all satisfied with it. It was already finished two days after the previous chapter but it was so annoying, I had to delete it and rewrite it. I have done that a thousand times or so already but had to settle on this since I figured that no matter what I did, it just won't get any better. **

**Then again, I hate this chapter but it's far better than what the it would have been if I had settled with one of those. **

**Okay, time to be honest with you guys. I'm not sure if any of you have noticed so far, but I suck at planning and as such I have no detailed plan how to write this story or what will happen in the long run. I kind of just go with the flow, meaning I just write whatever comes to mind. I do, however, have most of the big events planned out and such, just not very detailed.**

**Another thing, I want to make it clear that when Kazumi died the first time around, she was still a child and as such she is very childish and she will for most of the story stay like that. She will, however, mature with the events in this story but not much and as such she will from time to time, have a very dark look at some things and she can be very biased too. **

**I will also gradually make this story a little darker and twisted. As I mentioned above, she was a child when she died the first time and as most of you already have read, she was killed rather brutally by her older brother which won't exatly help her grow - at least not the right way. I doubt it anyone would end up with a perfectly normal view on the world if they had been exposed to such a traumatic event.**

**She also needs to kill, as it's kind of necessary for this story that she does. She can't live with the Akatsuki without having to kill at least once. She is, after all, living with a group of missing nin and seeing how shinobi have to kill in their career it would make absolutely no sense if Kazumi stayed innocent. She also needs to grow up rather quickly. **

**I know, I know, I'm abusing her but damn, some shit is happening right now and I'm taking it out on Kazumi. I'm such a bad person, urgh ...**

**It was a long A/N this time around. I have a feeling that there will be a time where I will explain a little more detailed but it won't be before more have been revealed about Kazumi. Can't go around ruining, can I?**

**I love you all and thank you for being patient with me and this story. **

**Remember, reviews keep this story alive. **


	11. Chapter X

**Beta:** Nope.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto and so on so forth, Masashi Kishimoto does, I only borrow it to tortue Kazumi (who is mine, by the way).

**Warning:** Uhh, there's crazy voice and that's about it.

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**\\(•_•)/**

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I knew I was dreaming the second I opened my eyes and saw nothing but blinding whiteness as far as my eyes could see and I felt unease creep onto me and began tightening around my heart. I had no idea where I was but the feeling that something was wrong couldn't be shaken off of me. I shook my head and began to walk. Kakuzu wouldn't tolerate fear and I would shame him if a dream got the better of me and scared me.

"You have nothing to fear, Kazumi." I whispered to myself and tried to slow down my racing heart. "Nothing to fear at all. It's just a dream. It's okay."

I kept talking even when the feeling of someone watching me latched onto me and I began to feel panic rise inside of me. It was only a dream; so why did it feel so real? If I hadn't known, I would have thought this was reality.

"Pull yourself together, Kazumi. Tou-san would be disappointed if he knew you were scared of _a dream_." I emphasized the last part in an effort to calm myself but when the sound of a chuckle suddenly filled my ears I wanted nothing but cower as a coward and scream out my terror for the world to hear.

"Kazumi?" A hoarse voice whispered with a manic edge to its voice. "Such a pretty name." the voice chuckled and I nearly dropped dead when I felt the faintest breath on my cheek.

Jerking away, I spun, ready to fight in case I needed to but nothing and no one was there. I was alone in the whiteness surrounding me.

"But," the voice tutted and I shivered at the sudden shift from hoarse maniac to ice cold anger lacing the voice. "That is not your name, now, is it?" the voice asked.

"Who are you? Show yourself." I demanded and hated the way my voiced shook from the fear starting to choke me.

I felt like I should know who this voice belonged to but no matter how much I tried to grasp whatever it was just at the edge of my mind, it slipped between my fingers as if the memory was made of water. Something was wrong and I was pretty sure that this was no longer a dream but a nightmare.

"I'm hurt that you do not remember me, Dru." Came the reply and the name made my blood freeze in my veins.

The fear connected to the name was nearly choking me and my breath hitched in my throat as I frantically looked around, trying to find whoever it was the voice belonged to. Something was very, very wrong here indeed.

"I thought family never forgot each other, Dru." The voice suddenly yelled making me jump and scream in shook and fear. "Why have you forgotten me? Why do you not remember?"

"I-I'm sorry." I squeaked and felt the need to run and hide.

"Are you now?" the voice asked and I could hear the hurt, the craziness and the doubt coating the question asked.

I nodded frantically, intent at assuring the crazy voice that I was sorry for not knowing whatever it was he meant. Better keep on the good side of the crazy voice, am I right?

"Oh well, it's not like you can actually change anything here anyway." The voice suddenly laughed and I felt a shiver running down my spine. "I'm here too, you know. I decided to follow you after you died and just as I thought we would end up in Hell together, I woke up in this world. Imagine my confusion." The voice added wryly and chuckled again.

"I'm sorry I have forgotten you but if you please just tell me who you are I can help you." I begged the voice, trying to reach out to it, to make the hurt go away from whoever it was the voice belonged to.

Of course I would have to work on the craziness too but one thing at a time.

"Don't worry, Dru, you'll know in time. I am working hard to see you soon and punish you and the imposter you call 'tou-san'. I can't wait to see you again after all these years." The voice cackled and by the sound of it, it was moving away from me.

As if on cue, the whiteness suddenly dispatched and I opened my eyes to see the ceiling above my bed in the room I shared with my father. My breathing was normal and somewhere over where I knew his bed was, I could hear the soft snores coming from Kakuzu, telling me that he was sound asleep. I blinked, closed my eyes and took a deep breath before soundlessly crawling out of my bed.

Prying the door open as soundless as I could, I barely even breathed. My father was a shinobi and a very strong one at that and I wouldn't be too surprised if he had already heard me and just pretended to be asleep.

"Where are you going, Kazumi?" He suddenly asked with a voice heavy with sleep, confirming that he had at least been awake a couple of minutes.

"The kitchen. I want to raid the freezer for ice cream." I told him and looked down when I heard the familiar sound of rustling duvets and sheets as he moved to turn around.

"Ice cream? It's awfully late for that, don't you think?" he asked with a sleepy sigh and I smiled faintly.

"I need it." I said and shrugged.

It was dark inside our room but I knew he had seen the movement and I could hear another sleepy sigh before some more rustling of the sheets and duvets.

"If something is bothering you, you can just tell me, Kazumi. You've been eating way too much ice cream and other kind of unhealthy food for a couple of weeks now." Kakuzu grumbled and raised his head a little to give me a stern glare. "You'll be fat before the end of this year if you keep going like that." He added as a mutter and the touched feeling I'd gotten when he'd said the first part of that sentence, disappeared rather quickly at the muttered words.

"You need to practice your compliments before you try and pick up a date." I deadpanned and heard a low chuckle.

"Good thing I have you to practice on before the big exam." He chuckled and I responded with a snort. "How did I do?" he asked and let his head fall down onto the pillow again.

"If you don't add the last part, that would have been a sure winner." I answered and shook my head at him.

At first all this with having Kakuzu practicing pick-up lines had been a joke. He had been particularly stubborn a couple of years back and simply denied to teach me anything besides counting, reading and writing and with my impatience of starting my training as fast as possible, I had rather innocently let it drop that I would like a brother or sister and maybe even a mother.

Ohh, the faces of them all. I wished I'd had a camera or to capture the emotions flickering over their faces. Of course Konan had instantly backed me up and had commanded rather than suggested Kakuzu to look for a suitable woman who could raise me as her own daughter along with the children she would have with Kakuzu.

Hidan had after only a couple of minutes declared that he would be willing to act like the priest and he would personally make sure the poor woman would treat me with the respect the Princess of Akatsuki would naturally need. After that, Kisame and Deidara had volunteered to train him in the subtle art of flirting and understanding the mind of a woman.

I would never have guessed the two of them to be fans of Icha Icha. They were almost as bad as Kakashi. Deidara would shamelessly read the porn everywhere in the hideout and even sometimes when he was outside, unless he was on a mission. Once he even let me read with him and when I had read aloud for Kakuzu, Hidan, Itachi, Konan and Kisame to hear, he had been quick to flee the scene and it was hours before I saw him again.

Kisame wasn't as bad but I suspected Itachi had done something to scare him into thinking twice where he would read it.

As I was saying then, after that, it had kind of just gotten out of hand. Hidan, Kisame and Deidara had begun to frequently take him to the bars and clubs around Ame, Iwa and even Konoha. Each time they came back complaining about the impossibility to actually make Kakuzu flirt without the use of a death threat or something equally bloody or violent.

Now it was just more of an inside joke mostly between Kakuzu and me and he would use me as a practice target of his compliments before adding something insulting or life threatening after. I had already notified him about the possibility he would die as a bachelor. He didn't seem to heartbroken about that.

"Could you take some back with you? The peach flavored one, please." Kakuzu asked groggily and pushed himself up.

"Of course, tou-san." I said and hurried off down the hallway with a small smile in place.

Who would have thought Kakuzu to like peach flavored ice cream? Or to be able to actually tease and just generally have fun? He had seemed too cold in the manga and anime back in my world but actually living here with him had made me realize that these people, the ones portrayed as distant, cold, crazy or just mentally unstable was just as much human as me.

It was a shock really and it effectively made me want to protect my growing group of people precious to me.

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**\\(•_•)/**

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I had managed to find the kitchen in ten minutes and was well into the task of putting chocolate ice cream into one bowl and peach ice cream into another bowl when suddenly I felt the hairs at the back of my neck stand straight up and the obligatory prickling of my skin which announced the arrival of Zetsu.

"You're up late." The white side of him said as he stuck hallway out of the wall in front of me as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

I eyed him with a raised eyebrow and quickly cleaned up after me before turning to the creepy plant man popping out of the wall.

"I would have said the same about you, but then I remembered that you almost never sleep." I said and pick up the two bowls with ice cream.

I heard the dark side chuckle and the white side's mouth curled up into a wide, half smile.

"Too bad none of your jabs works at me." The white Zetsu said and I smiled faintly before watching the man disappear into the wall once again with a mock salute as goodbye.

Shaking my head at him, I began to make my way back to the room and when I had finally found it, I pushed open the door with my butt, pushing it close again with my foot. Kakuzu eyed me before his eyes shifted to the bowl with his ice cream in it and he took it with a polite thank you when I offered it to him.

"I have been thinking of going to Kiri sometime next week. There's a rumor about a pretty big bounty running around attracting attention to himself. I could take you with me and when I'm done and have collected the bounty, you and I could take a small break." Kakuzu said and glanced briefly at me.

I looked up somewhat surprised and the spoon stopped halfway towards my open mouth. I lowered the spoon and frowned at him. Normally he would insist that I stayed with some of the other members or in the hideout while he hunted the big bounties with Hidan.

He was up to something but no matter how much I tried to figure out what was going on, I simply couldn't wrap my mind around it.

"You're turning five in three months and I have decided that it's time to begin your training." He said with a carefully neutral voice. "But if I find you are simply not cut out to be a kunoichi then I will stop the training immediately. I expect you to take your training seriously and pay attention at all times." He added with a warning glance in my direction.

My mouth was hanging open as I stared at him and then a broad smile spread on my lips. I wanted to jump and scream in joy or something equally loud and ridiculously but better not challenge my luck and have Kakuzu deciding that I was still too much a child to take my training seriously.

It had only taken him five years to accept that I should be trained. I didn't want it to take another five years.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, tou-san." I exclaimed much to exited to keep my voice and excitement completely under control.

Kakuzu gave me a very small and almost non-existing smile in return as he nodded his head once. I knew that it was difficult for him to come to terms with the fact that soon enough I would be out there in the field, risking my life and killing the enemies. I wanted to assure him that I didn't _want _this at all, I hated killing and violence, but the fact that I would lose all of the people who mattered to me made me do it.

We finished the ice cream in a somewhat comfortable silence and Kakuzu took the dirty bowls to the kitchen. He ruffled my hair and gave me another small smile that was only reserved for me as he had walked out of the room and I snuggled into the warmth and softness of my bed and slowly fell asleep.

At least I didn't have any more weird dreams for the rest of the dreams.

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**\\(•_•)/**

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**Hello there. **

**I'm so sorry for the long wait and I would love to tell all of you that in the meanwhile I have been to the moon, discovered twelve new planets, led a team of highly sexy and dangerously smart men on a mission in space and solved the problem with ISIS and all of that ...**

**... but to be honest, I have been more than just lazy all this time, doing nothing at all ... **

**Reviews, people, I love them and they make my ego grow and I kind of need that.**


	12. Chapter XI

**Beta: **No.

**Disclaimer: **It's the usual, really. If I didn't own Naruto three days ago, I wouldn't own it now.

**Warning: **Hidan makes a somewhat short but dangerous appearance ...

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**\\(•_•)/**

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I don't know what I had been thinking when I had continuously begged Kakuzu to agree into letting me become a kunoichi. I guessed I'd had some deep buried wish to die or something because that's what it felt like. Or maybe Hidan had rubbed off on me and I had become a masochist. I don't know. What I _do _know though, is that I found myself thinking whether or not there were a way to cheat at training.

I groaned at the dinner table. My entire body felt like burning jelly and I found it too hard to keep holding my own head up so right now, my face was squished against the wooden surface as I felt and heard the amusement or snicker coming from the Akatsuki members around the table.

Hidan nudged me rather roughly where he was sitting to my right and I groaned again when his elbow connected with a very sore spot on my upper arm. I could hear him snicker and I wanted nothing more than to beat him to a pulp for teasing me like this. He was such a cruel, little man …

"How did your first training session go, Kazumi-chan?" Itachi asked and I mustered enough strength to raise my head, glare at him and the small smile he didn't even bother to hide before letting my head fall down onto the wood again.

Ouch. Now my forehead was sore too. I groaned and made another little sound meant to make the men around the table have pity on me. If only Konan had been here, she would have taken my side and most likely beat them all because they found cruel amusement in my pain.

"I want to die." I whimpered and groaned again.

My words were received with a beat of silence were I thought I would be able to get their pity so they would stop, but then the men began laughing and I heard myself groan again.

"You asked for this, brat. You can't just give up now. It's only been a week." Sasori said in a bored voice but I knew he was right.

"I know, I know, but tou-san is so cruel." I whined and I could hear more laughter and even a chuckle from Kakuzu.

"If you think he's cruel, then imagine if Hidan had been the first one to train you." Sasori pointed out and I made a sound of horror, imagining Hidan as a teacher.

Hidan took offense to that and began a heated, one-sided argument with Sasori who offered an uninterested snort every so often which only managed to make Hidan angrier. Suddenly he stood, grabbed me and tucked me under his arm as he quickly exited the kitchen.

It took only three heartbeats before the rest of the Akatsuki followed. I figured Hidan wanted to prove Sasori wrong and so he had decided to train me. The rest of them only wanted to watch us from the sidelines. At least I knew Kakuzu would interfere if Hidan tried to sacrifice me.

When Hidan reached the training grounds exclusive to the Akatsuki-members and hidden by a ton of genjutsu, he dumped me on the ground and stepped away from me before tapping his index finger on his chin, deep in thoughts of torture, pain and holy sacrifices.

This was it. I, Amari Kazumi, would die because a sadistic, masochistic priest wanted to prove himself a great teacher. And to think I only lived five years.

"Kazumi, pay attention." Hidan barked and I raised my head with some effort to look at him. "I'm much like your father, which mean I will not fucking tolerate failure or giving up. Do you fucking understand?" he asked me and I nodded dully.

I just knew I was going to die.

"Fan-fucking-tastic." Hidan grinned and pulled forth a bunch of kunai and shuriken.

My eyes bulged in my head as I tried to figure out where on Earth he had hidden the weapons. After the first couple of seconds had passed with me trying to figure out said mystery, suddenly Hidan flicked his wrist and sent a kunai in my direction, aimed at my head, mind you. I squeaked and forced my muscles to listen as I scrambled up and away from the offending weapon. Of course I wasn't lucky enough to completely avoid it and snitched my left cheek.

I glared at Hidan but he grinned again and as I prepared for another weapon heading in my direction, I tried to figure out what purpose making me a living target for practice would serve.

It was only when I thought Hidan wouldn't throw another weapon at me, I relaxed. Of course that was a big mistake on my part because the second Hidan noticed my body relaxing he flicked his wrist again and sent another kunai towards me, this time aimed at my upper right thigh.

"Don't ever fucking relax in a fight, Kazumi, or you'll fucking die." Hidan scolded me and I gritted my teeth as I avoided yet another kunai narrowly. "You always have to pay fucking attention to your fucking enemy." He added and flicked another weapon, this time a shuriken towards me.

I could see the point in what he was doing and saying, but honestly, I didn't understand how he thought I would be able to keep this up when I had the body of a five-year-old and my training wasn't even beginning to give any results.

"Hidan-nii, my body can't do this." I whimpered and wanted nothing more than to take the words back.

If I found his training methods questionable before, I don't even have words to describe it after those damned words left my mouth.

He kept sending shuriken and kunai towards me and I hadn't much time to think about anything else but my survival because he didn't let me. Every time I made a sound of discomfort, he would add one more weapon when he sent them towards me.

I think 'lethal' would describe his training methods perfectly. I had to learn quick or die when Hidan was in charge.

I'd lost count when my body finally began to let me down. Hidan had aimed two shurikens and three kunai at me when I fell and twisted my ankle. It was when I saw the horror on Hidan's face and heard the shouts of the other members, I kind of realized that no matter whether I was down or not, the weapons would still come towards me and most likely hit me.

Hidan was moving towards me but it didn't take a genius to know that he couldn't make it to me before the deadly weapons had connected with their target and I realized that unless Lady Luck decided she loved me very, very much, I wouldn't survive this time around and I sighed.

I had died once and I could die twice. It was only death, really. It wasn't as if it was anything horrible. I wasn't even supposed to be reborn. Maybe this time I would actually stay death. I felt a burning pain in the left side of my chest and another in my upper right thigh. Whether it was because I was dying or because of the extreme exhaustion suddenly washing over, or perhaps it was a little bit of both, I could feel oblivion pulling me towards it and too tired and exhausted to do anything else, I obediently gave in and blackness surrounded me.

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**\\(•_•)/**

* * *

The first thing I noticed was the dry feeling in my throat like I hadn't gotten anything to drink for months or years. It felt horrible. The next thing I noticed was that I wasn't alone wherever it was I were, and for a moment or two I was confused why I could hear Kakuzu, Hidan, Konan and Sasori argue before I realized that I wasn't dead.

"I'm thirsty." I managed to bring forth and instantly they stopped arguing.

I opened my eyes and saw the entire Akatsuki in our living room with most of them pacing while the four of them argued.

"Kazumi-chan." Konan exclaimed and gave a pointed look at Hidan as she passed him on her way over to me.

Hidan left the living room without as much as a curse or even a mutter. I raised my eyebrow in wonder but decided to let it go. If it was meant for me to know, I would know.

"How are you feeling?" Konan asked me when she sat down beside me on the couch and gently touched my face.

"I feel like I've been through Hell and back again a couple of times." I said and furrowed my eyebrows at the way the Akatsuki reacted.

Konan looked down and away, Kakuzu clenched his jaw, Kisame and Deidara both flinched, Sasori looked away with both Itachi and Pain joining him. Tobi said nothing but I could feel the gloominess radiating off of him which was unusual while amongst the rest of the members. Zetsu said nothing and I couldn't really decide whether or not he felt like the others.

"What's wrong?" I asked and looked at them all.

Kakuzu meet my stare for a couple of seconds before he briskly walked off. Hidan had entered the living room again in time to hear my question. He walked over, placed the cup down on the coffee table and then left the room once again. I was confused.

"Kazumi-chan, what is the last thing you remember?" Konan asked softly and when she looked at me I tried to read her emotions.

Too bad she decided to hide them away from me.

"I remember training with Hidan when I fell and twisted my ankle. The weapons Hidan had aimed at me hit me, at least two of them did, and I fainted." I said.

"Yes. That was two weeks ago." Konan said and I gaped at her. "Kakuzu had been pushing you too hard in your training for your body to accept and when Hidan had taken you out to train with, your body gave up when you fell. Due to the extreme exhaustion and pressure your body was put under it shut down in order to survive. Hidan's kunais hit you a little left of your heart and in your right thigh which cut through the artery there.

When Sasori managed to stabilize you, for some reason your heart stopped and you died. We do not know why but Sasori managed to get your heart working again. Then three days later, your heart stopped for the second time. Again Sasori managed to get your heart working once again but the third time, it took longer and was harder for him to make your heart beat once again. We thought we'd lost you there, Kazumi."

I felt nauseous. Like really, really, _really _nauseous. I didn't _feel _any different and for once I didn't remember dying but how many times could a person die before ending up in a place with no possibility of returning from? I knew I had changed from when I had been alive in my old world. It was very little I could actually remember from my life before this, but I knew that in my old life I would have been shaken to my very core at the thought of a person killing someone. I hadn't changed the way I didn't like killing but I had changed the way I thought of killing someone to be so very wrong to think of someone dying as something necessary.

It scared me because I knew that I had changed from being one person who had been kind and compassionate, to suddenly becoming another somewhat cruel and ruthless person.

And I didn't like it one bit.

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**\\(•_•)/**

* * *

**Hello. **

**It's 8 in the morning here where I come from and I've just done another sleepless 24-hour long thing ... I'm literally sleeping where I stand ... or sit, in this case ...**

**I've been having troubles sleeping lately and I do have two or three days a week where I just don't sleep for 24 hours, because to be honest, the stress is getting to me, making me think and hindering the wonderful thing known as sleep from getting to me ... **

**I usually get silly when I haven't slept for a long amount of time but right in this moment, I just can't find it in me to be silly or even try ... **

**I want to be Sleeping Beauty ...**

**Reviews, people, I'll probably miss them when I finally manages to fall asleep but I'll see them when I wake up. Do me a favor and leave a ton of nice reviews. I need the positiveness in my life right now ...**

**You guys are pretty amazing. Like, honestly, you guys are the definition of awesomness because you keep following, reviewing and favoring although I'm such a lazy idiot. I'm grateful for that. Thank you.**


	13. Chapter XII

**Beta:** No.

**Disclaimer:** How many times do I have to say it? The OC's are mine, Naruto is Kishimoto's.

**Warning:** I forgot, lol. I just finished writing this, and I literally forgot if there should be any warning for this chapter ...

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**\\(•_•)/**

* * *

Kakuzu had flat out refused to train me for the time being and as such I was left with nothing to do but wandering the halls of the hideout in an attempt at killing the boredom accompanying me. I sighed as I stood from the couch and wandered from the living room into one of the hallways. I had been ordered to relax and let my body recover fully before doing anything that could possibly reverse my recovery and kill me again. In other words, I was useless for the time being.

"I'll die of boredom one of these days." I muttered to myself.

I had never been fine with doing nothing, not now and not in the life before this. I had always done _something _and I could literally feel the pain of doing nothing right now. I couldn't even corner one of the others because they were all out on missions except from Zetsu who had been tasked with looking after me while the others were out. Normally I would have gone with Kakuzu and Hidan but after my failed training, I guess they felt guilty and I could fully understand that they did … I just didn't like that they pretty much ignored me now.

"Zetsu." I called out.

I'd decided I needed to get out and I would need Zetsu's help to do just that, since Kakuzu had convinced Pain to not let the rock at the entrance recognize my chakra signature, which meant that I couldn't leave the hideout unless someone was with me. Only because I once or twice had managed to sneak out and after I'd gotten lost outside one too many times, Kakuzu had come up with the idea that I shouldn't be allowed outside without bodyguards.

I had never been abducted … at least not for very long …

Zetsu popped out of the floor with his white half smiling widely. I snickered at him and I knew that he understood what it was I wanted from him. When I managed to get outside besides when I was on a mission with Kakuzu and Hidan, it was mainly Itachi and Zetsu who would disobey my father's orders and help me escape.

"I have to go to Mist and Iwa." His white half said and looked down at me. "_And Leader-sama will kill us after your father is done with us if they knew that we had let you outside without looking after you._" The darker half drawled.

"I won't tell anyone." I said and gave him a sweet smile.

"I'm not sure." The white half said as he looked down at me with a dubious look.

"Come on, what is the worst that could happen?" I asked and smiled a little broader.

"_One hour and I'll be back to check up on you and let you inside again._" The darker half of him said and I couldn't help but give a delighted squeal as he picked me up and morphed into the floor.

Travelling with Zetsu could best describes as a ride in a roller coaster. It tickled like crazy.

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**\\(•_•)/**

* * *

I was dead meat. I should never had talked Zetsu into letting me out and I would never, ever do it again. I stopped briefly to catch my breath but forced my body to jump to another branch as the sound of metal flying through the air had given me a fair warning seconds before a kunai sunk deep into the branch I had been standing on.

At least Hidan's and Kakuzu's training had done some good, no matter how short it may have been. I glared in the general direction the kunai had come from and quickly jumped to another branch again as another kunai was sent in my direction. It didn't escape me that none of the weapons aimed at me was meant to actually hit me and while I tried to rake my brain for any ideas as to why they weren't trying to hurt me, I was suddenly picked up.

I turned my head and saw the face of Kabuto and just behind him, was Orochimaru staring at me with a smirk in place. I glared at him. Why hadn't I guessed earlier that it was a trap?

"My, how you've grown, Kazumi-chan." Orochimaru said as his amber colored snake eyes moved over my body.

"I know. It has been four years after all." I snapped and gave a small pout. "What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to hide somewhere." I added and didn't manage to keep the snarl entirely out of my voice.

"I just wanted to see how you were. It's been so long, as you said yourself." He said and faked a hurt expression. "Besides, I have someone you might want to meet. Let me tell you, he especially is _thrilled _to meet you since I mentioned you were in the same organization as his dear aniki." Orochimaru added in a sinister tone.

I gulped. It couldn't be …? No, it couldn't. It would mean that I had even less time than I'd expected. I tried to do the math and when my mind ended on twelve, I cursed silently inside of my head. It would match the timeline perfectly actually and it would explain why Itachi had seemed sullener lately than ever before.

"I suggest you put me down and let me go back. I'm sure tou-san won't be pleased when he discovers I'm missing." I said and let the unspoken threat hang between the Sannin and me.

Kabuto's grip on me tightened just the slightest as a warning that now would be a good time to shut up. Of course I didn't agree with him.

"I bet he will be very mad at Iwa for abducting his beloved daughter." Orochimaru said with a broad, sinister smile.

I gave him a funny expression at his words, until a rustling sound made me turn my head. There, emerging from the bushes came six shinobi clad in Iwa-looking gear while one of them, the only kunoichi among them, was holding a child about the same size as me with dark brown hair, tanned skin and wearing dark gray pants and a black short sleeved shirt. I realized that this child had been forced to play my role in this horrid game. I tried to feel for a chakra signature from the child, but it was faint and I instantly knew that the unknown child would die unless it was treated right away.

Before I managed to say anything, however, Orochimaru nodded to the group of Iwa-look-alike and they took to the trees. I turned my attention back to Orochimaru with a scowl on my face.

"It seems like a lot of trouble to go through if you only want to know how I'm doing." I said and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Oh, but Kazumi-chan, I would hate to let your ... _fan _back at the hideout down when I return without the famous Amari Kazumi." Orochimaru said with the same sinister smile still in place.

I was about to say something more, when I felt pressure at the back of my neck, effectively making me pass out.

* * *

**\\(•_•)/**

* * *

Zetsu hadn't been nervous when he'd left Kakuzu's daughter to herself outside. It would, after all, only be an hour she would be alone and how much trouble could a five-year-old possibly do in that amount of time? Pushing the uneasy feeling away and concentrating about information gathering, he decided that he'd heard everything that was worth knowing – and more – from the Tsuchikage's office. He was just about to head back to Mist to see if anything new had happened although he doubted it, when a young man barged into the office of the grumpy old man.

"Tsuchikage-sama, we got news from the team near the presumed base of the Akatsuki." The younger man said and Zetsu stopped and stiffened.

There had been a team near the hideout? How on Earth had he missed that?

"They were able to successfully capture the target. They will arrive here tomorrow." The Iwa nin said and Zetsu nearly dropped dead when the words finally caught up to him.

The only one near the hideout had been Kazumi. He had never been able to deny the little girl anything and as such he had given in to her unspoken demand of being let outside the hideout for a change. Of course, they were talking about another target. It couldn't be Kazumi, it just couldn't.

Zetsu didn't even wait and hear the rest of what was said because he suddenly felt the uneasy feeling reach new heights and with a small curse, surprisingly coming from his white side, did he morph into the floor and made his way to the hideout.

When he arrived and he was unable to find Kazumi anywhere, he gulped before morphing into the ground once more.

He just hoped that at least they would kill him quickly although the chance of that was hastily degrading with every second Kazumi was missing.

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**\\(•_•)/**

* * *

Kakuzu was grumpier than usual. Hidan was more silent than usual. He hadn't been babbling endlessly about his religion for the entire mission and even back at the hideout he hadn't said much to anyone. Kakuzu knew he was moping for being scolded by Konan but the immortal priest also felt guilty for pushing Kazumi past what her body could handle, although Kakuzu also knew that it would only have been a matter of time before her body eventually would have given up.

He had secretly hoped it would happen, just not the way it _had _happen. He'd hoped that Kazumi would see how hard it was to be trained as a ninja and that she would give up. He wanted nothing more than seeing his daughter grow up and grow old without the chance of being captured by enemy nin, tortured, raped and abused. That risk would be there if she kept insisting on being a kunoichi.

"_We have an emergency. Return to the base at once._" The voice of their leader suddenly piped up inside of his head.

"And why the fuck should we do that?" Came Hidan's grumpy reply to their leader.

They were both aware of the other voices agreeing with Hidan in their heads. The silence stretched and Kakuzu felt dread take over his whole body. A quick glance at Hidan and he knew that the immortal priest thought the same as him.

"Where is Kazumi?" Kakuzu asked and when the voices died out and no answer came, Kakuzu had gotten his answer just as anyone else.

"Wasn't Zetsu supposed to fucking watch over her?" Hidan asked.

"Zetsu was at the Tsuchikage's office, when a Iwa nin claimed that a team of their ninja had been successful in capturing their target near our hideout. When Zetsu returned to the hideout, Kazumi-chan was nowhere to be found." Konan's voice said.

"How did they even get inside the hideout, hm?" Deidara snapped before Kakuzu even had the chance to ask the same question.

Another silence stretched and Kakuzu felt melting lava run through his body and red dots was clouding his vision.

"He let her outside." Itachi said and was met with another silence.

"Zetsu also found evidence of enemy nin near the hideout in form of shuriken and kunai embedded in the tree branches. It seems that Kazumi tried to shake the off because the weapons can be found nearly two miles away from the hideout." Konan once again answered.

"Just get back to the hideout." Pain said.

"I hope the idiot is ready to meet his creator." Kakuzu snarled, just in time for everyone to hear.

Hidan agreed with him and when the connection disappeared again, they were already running at full speed back to the hideout. No one kidnaps the Princess of the Akatsuki from right under their noses without earning the wrath of the entire organization.

By the sound of it, even Jashin was in a bad mood if Hidan was anything to go by.

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**\\(•_•)/**

* * *

**Hello again. **

**Damn, these chapters are coming quickly. I hope you all like this chapter. I know it isn't as long as it could have been, but I figured it's better than nothing. **

**To the one who asked about Amaya, I feel like tomorrow she's going to turn eighteen and moved into her own place. She's growing so fast, I can't keep up with her. It's been six months since she was born and I cannot believe it has already been so long and when I see her getting herself ready to crawl I'm like "Nope, you're not even a month old, stop being in such a hurry". **

**I finally get it when people say children grow up so quick ... **

**It's going too fast ...**

**Review, people, I really do love them.**


	14. Chapter XIII

**Beta:** I'm not even going to answer that.

**Disclaimer:** Ugh ...

**Warning:** A bratty five-year-old but that's about it.

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**\\(•_•)/**

* * *

When I woke up after forcefully losing consciousness, I spent a good amount of time just staring at the wall as I tried to get my brain to work properly. In the meantime, it slowly processed the fact that none other than Orochimaru had abducted me. Along with Kabuto.

"Damned shinobi." I growled at no one in particular. "Damn Orochimaru and his creepy, ass-licking slaves to Hell."

I stood up and climbed down from the bed as I began to explore the room I had woken up in. There were a door leading to what I presumed was the exit and another door leading into a bathroom the size of a broom closet. Honestly, was this place inhabited by hobbits? I sighed and jumped when I heard a creak. There, sitting in a corner, were none others than Orochimaru. I hadn't even noticed him.

"How long have you been there?" I asked sheepishly as I rubbed the back of my head. "How much did you hear?" I added after a beat of my heart.

"The entire time." Orochimaru answered with a small smirk and I blushed heavily. "I've never done anything bad to you, Kazumi-chan. I'm hurt you do not like me." He said mockingly.

"I bet you are thinking of all kinds of horrible experiments you could do to me." I said icily and crossed my arms over my chest, trying to glare him into submission.

Of course, it's not very impressive when a five-year-old tries to glare you into doing their every little command. It's actually very odd and somewhat cute to watch and although I knew this, I just couldn't help myself; I had to try. My father was very good at glaring and when he really wanted, he could easily scare a man build like a mountain into shitting himself with a single glare. I knew it; I'd seen him do that once or twice.

Hidan and I had laughed at the memory for weeks and dubbed Kakuzu's glare Shit-Yourself no Jutsu. The name wasn't impressive but the glare made up for that. My father hadn't been too thrilled when Hidan and I kept threatening strangers with a Shit-Yourself no Jutsu.

"I bet I could be but I wouldn't want to make your poor tou-san too sad, now would I?" Orochimaru said with a sinister smile.

I raised an eyebrow at him, trying to figure out what game the Sannin was playing. I had already figured he wanted me to meet Sasuke, since he actually had revealed that much but I couldn't shake the uneasy feeling off that something entirely else besides meeting a disturbed little boy with a brother complex would soon happen.

"What do you want, Orochimaru?" I asked him as I decided that being direct would work the best.

At least his arms didn't work and as such I would be relatively safe unless he decided to call Kabuto and make him do his dirty work. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually did make Kabuto do it. Orochimaru pushed from himself up from the chair and because of his arms just dangling uselessly at his sides, it looked a little awkward.

"Follow me, Kazumi-chan. There's someone dying to meet you." Orochimaru said as he walked towards the door I had thought to be the exit, and it was. As if it had been controlled by magic, suddenly the door swung open and Orochimaru walked out with me following after him.

The hallway was dimly lit and was depressing. The few Oto nin we met, looked down at the sight of their leader and would then narrow their eyes at me, before looking away again. They were afraid of Orochimaru and to be honest, I couldn't blame them.

"Orochimaru." The sound of the youngest Uchiha's voice made me jump and when I peeked out from behind Orochimaru's legs, I saw Uchiha Sasuke standing a little way from us with his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"Sasuke-kun, I would like you to meet, Amari Kazumi, the daughter of Kakuzu." Orochimaru drawled and stepped away from me, forcing me to face the mentally unstable Uchiha in front of me.

I gulped nervously as Sasuke's coal eyes roamed my body. His eyebrows furrowed only the slightest, something that I wouldn't have discovered if not thanks for being in the company of his even less emotional older brother. Orochimaru noticed it too and smiled another sinister smile as he excused himself and disappeared down the hallway.

He had left me alone with Sasuke. Damn him to Hell.

"You're Kazumi?" Sasuke asked me and I blinked.

"Are you deaf or just plain stupid?" I asked him and didn't miss the way his shoulders tensed lightly and his eyes narrowed almost undetectable for the naked eyed.

Thank Kami-sama, for the many lessons in Uchihanese I had gotten from Itachi.

"Didn't Orochimaru just tell you who I was?" I asked and rolled my eyes at him. "If you want people to think you're smart, stop asking questions that have already been answered." I chided him.

If I were going to die, I wanted to at least know that I had managed to piss of an Uchiha.

"Do you even know who I am?" Sasuke growled and took a threatening step towards me.

"You're Uchiha Sasuke, Itachi-nii's younger brother (the expression he made when he heard the suffix I used for Itachi was priceless), the only one who was spared in the massacre and the youngest Uchiha alive." I answered and then I tilted my head, looking him up and down. "If you're Itachi-nii's brother and Itachi-nii is my brother … does that make you my brother too?" I asked him.

Sasuke spluttered at my words and looked like he was choking on his own saliva.

"Sasuke-nii …" I said and nodded to myself. "I like the sound of that." I declared to him and gave him a big smile as I walked over to him and took his hand in mine.

Sasuke looked possibly mortified and was pulling at his hand as he attempted to free himself from me. I didn't let him go though.

"How can you speak so casually about that … that … _murderer_?" he spat as he finally gave up freeing himself.

I looked up at him and yanked at his arm. He raised an eyebrow at me but lowered his head down to me nonetheless. I placed my mouth at his ear. I didn't say anything for a couple of minutes, trying to make the anticipation bigger. When Sasuke began to squirm irritably I smiled and took a deep breath.

"Baka!" I shrieked into his ears, making the poor boy jump in surprise and shock.

I couldn't help but laugh and clutched my sides as the laughter became harder. Sasuke looked possibly murderous as he rubbed his ear and I was certain he would have done something horrible to me, if it hadn't been for Kabuto suddenly making an appearance. He pushed the glasses up on his nose and picked me up.

"You are not allowed to harm Kazumi-chan, Sasuke-kun. She's an important guest of Orochimaru-sama." He said with a fake smile and turned to walk away from the fuming Uchiha.

If I had to stay here for an unknown amount of time, I would at least make it worth my time.

Besides, if I survived this stay, I would have something to laugh at whenever I got depressed ... and so would the rest of the Akatsuki ...

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**\\(•_•)/**

* * *

The entire Akatsuki, besides Pain and Konan, was tracking the group of Iwa nin at full speed and if their faint chakra was anything to go by, they couldn't be more than five miles away from them which made the men stay on edge. They could feel an even fainter chakra, much smaller than the rest of the group and dangerously low, they presumed was Kazumi. By the feel of it, they knew she needed medical attention ASAP if they wanted her to survive.

Kakuzu growled lowly and speed up, wanting nothing more than just get this over with so he could take Kazumi home and lock her up somewhere and throw the key away … after he had given her a good scolding though.

Hidan joined him and the two of them shared a brief glance. Out of the entire Akatsuki, they had the strongest and closest relationship with Kazumi and for some reason, although both of them knew that it _had _been Zetsu to let her out in the first place, they also knew that they were partly to blame too. If they hadn't abandoned her when she needed them because they felt guilty, she may still be with them.

"The Iwa nin has stopped." Itachi suddenly said and the Zombie brothers zeroed in on their targets.

True to his words, the group had indeed stopped and the men could only guess that they had realized escaped wasn't a possibility. Neither was fighting but they would soon figure that out.

* * *

**\\(•_•)/**

* * *

Pain was tapping his fingers at his desk in his office in Ame. His normally expressionless face was contorted in what could best be described as a frown as he thought things over once more. Something felt wrong about the entire situation concerning the Iwa nin kidnapping Kazumi … he just couldn't figure out _what _was wrong.

"Nagato?" Konan asked behind his desk.

He looked up, mildly surprised but didn't bother to hide his emotions. Konan was the only one he had never been able to fool with no matter how much he tried and he had a long time ago, given up attempting to do so. His best friend seemed to have a radar whenever something was bothering him.

"Something doesn't feel right." He said and frowned again, glaring at a spot at the wall opposite him.

"I know; I feel it too." Konan said quietly.

He knew that his female partner had taken a liking to the small girl and he wasn't afraid that he too had become quite affectionate towards the little girl, but the both of them knew that they also had a mission to accomplish before anything else and that nothing could be allowed to stand in their way.

Not even Kazumi.

"We cannot let her die, Nagato." Konan said quietly. "The members of Akatsuki would defect and hunt down every single ninja responsible for her death. Besides," she added quietly and he looked over at her. "We wanted to create a world where children could grow up without facing the harsh reality of wars, death and pain. Without _hurt_."

Pain sighed and his hand seized its tapping on the wooden surface.

"I know." He said and sighed again. "She's under the protection of Akatsuki. Letting her get hurt by a group of irritating nin would only sent a message that we aren't as strong as we want the Elemental Lands to believe."

Konan nodded and her face hardened as she listened to the words of her childhood friend. Pain stood and walked around the desk to look out of one of the windows at the village below the tall building where his office was.

"They will be punished for challenging us." Pain said as he narrowed his eyes at nothing in particular. "If they want a war …"

"They will get one." Konan finished and placed her hand on his shoulder.

Pain looked briefly at the woman behind him and saw the small smile she wore. That smile was because of Kazumi. That love making her amber eyes shine, was because of Kazumi. He wanted to protect not only the people but also his female partner.

He turned his eyes at the window again and closed them briefly. When he opened them again, he couldn't help but marvel at the rare sight of sunlight breaking through the heavy clouds constantly hanging over Ame and creating a colorful rainbow.

Just as the rainbow he was looking at, Kazumi turned their black and white worlds into a palette of colors. She didn't know it herself but she was effectively the reason why none of them had lost themselves to the darkness constantly surrounding them.

He could only imagine what Madara would think of all this but secretly, Pain was convinced that even Madara who never spoke about anything but Tsuki no Me, had become addictive to the colors Kazumi was painting their worlds with.

He turned and walked towards the door, Konan easily falling into step beside him. It was time to get their rainbow back.

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**Damn, people, these chapters are almost writing themselves, lol.**

**As you may have noticed, I'm actually delaying something I hate and suck at writing; fighting scenes. -_-**

**I hate them and I need to figure out how to write them before I can actually do it. **

**What did you guys think about Pain's part? And Konan's for that matter ... too much? :-/ I hope not. I mean, I doubt any of our favorite S-class criminals would be able to stay exactly the same when exposed to the innocence of a child. Pain is kind of contradicting himself, since he doesn't really vote in favor for Kazumi right away but I feel like he needed to reflect a little about the changes Kazumi is bringing with her and at least admit just a little, that she was important not only to his subjects but also to him and Konan. **

**Besides that, I plan on putting more reflections up here. If anyone, I think the Akatsuki deserves the salvation Kazumi can bring. But maybe that's just me. **

**Reviews people, love them! Love you all. **


	15. Chapter XIV

**Beta:** Let's just face it, it won't happen.

**Disclaimer:** Blah blah blah, I don't own Naruto, if I did, Kisame wouldn't be dead. Kazumi and the other OC's is mine. Don't touch them people.

**Warning:** Bad plot, but that's about it. Hidan is also here, btw.

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The plan was simple.

Make the decoy mess with them, split them up so they were easier and quicker to defeat, attack and kill them and then get Kazumi the help she needed to survive. They had also agreed that they needed to be quick as they could all feel the dangerously low chakra Kazumi possessed. She would die if they took too long to get to her.

Itachi had stared at Kakuzu with his emotionless coal orbs and when he had suggested Kakuzu to stay back due to the circumstances of the mission at hand and the high chance that he would jeopardize it entirely in his eagerness to get to Kazumi, Kakuzu had nearly blown their covers with the amount of killing intent he had leaked. Itachi had shrugged and ignored his elder as he walked over the details once again to be sure they had all understood.

Hidan, of course, had been chosen to be the decoy. Even if the Iwa nin managed to capture him, he wouldn't die and as such they could afford to send him in. Hidan had smirked and cracked his neck, to the slight horror of Deidara, and quickly made his way to the place where the Iwa nin was waiting for them. They raised their weapons defensively the second they laid eyes on the immortal man.

"Who are you?" one of them demanded of him and let his eyes roam over the cloak Hidan wore. "You're an Akatsuki." He added and looked back to the only kunoichi on their team.

The woman was nervous, trembling slightly at the sight of Hidan and she was sweating. From his hiding place, Itachi concluded that she had to be a newbie. He felt after the woman's chakra and scrunched his eyebrows together in a rare frown at the low chakra reserves she possessed. She was chūnin-level at most and she had to be a pretty low-ranking one at that. Kisame glanced over at him from beside him, watching him for only a moment before he turned his beady eyes to the woman. Itachi was confused as to why the woman was on a mission like this one if she wasn't ready for one.

"Something is wrong." Itachi muttered quietly to his partner who turned his eyes to him again.

"What do you mean?" Kisame asked just as quietly as he absently picked up all the insults Hidan shouted at the Iwa nin.

"I don't know but something is wrong." Itachi repeated and narrowed his eyes at the woman.

Why place such a weak kunoichi on such a high-ranking mission as this one? Itachi doubted that the woman would be of much assistance to her teammates that was all jōnin-level and concluded that she would get in the way of her teammates if she tried to fight with them.

Hidan was still shouting nonsense about his God and he was playing the role as decoy perfectly. The Iwa nin was so angered at this point that they didn't notice Deidara making his way behind the team or Sasori following after him to cut off any possible escapes to the south.

Kakuzu was making his way towards the north side of the oblivious ninjas currently having a shouting contest with Hidan. All but the kunoichi who seemed like the only one to actually try and look out after enemies.

However, they all stopped shouting when a small, white spider crawled towards their leader. The rest of the Akatsuki recognized Deidara's sculptures and when Hidan started cackling like the maniac many believed him to be, the Iwa nin realized that the white creature clinging to the leader's head wasn't entirely peaceful. Of course it was all in vain when the leader reached up to try and pluck the sculpture off of him because in the next instant a very small explosion was set of by Deidara. It was big enough to effectively blow off the man's head.

Itachi closed his eyes briefly. One down and only five more to go. Kisame and Kakuzu was the first one to rush in and engage in fights with two of the remaining five while Hidan picked a young man with hair the same color as carrots. Hidan couldn't help himself and as such dubbed the poor jōnin "fucking Carrot Man".

Sasori engaged the last jōnin and soon only the kunoichi was the only one not fighting.

Itachi jumped down and landed three meters away from the woman, soon joined by Deidara. He glared at the woman who jumped. She was shaking like a leaf and her bottom lip was quivering, a sure sign that she was about to start crying. Once again, Itachi thought, this woman was highly unsuitable for this mission and possibly the ninja life entirely.

"Give us back Kazumi-chan, hm." Deidara said and stepped towards the woman with a menacing aura.

The kunoichi opened and closed her mouth and looked very much like a fish out of water. Her eyes that were a deep, chocolate brown darted between them and her teammates who was unknowingly being lead further and further away from her.

"I said, give us back Kazumi-chan." Deidara snapped at the woman who jumped once again.

Itachi again got a feeling that something was wrong. He held out a hand to stop Deidara from marching over to her, grab the girl and torture woman where she stood. The blonde didn't look too happy about it but conceded nonetheless.

"Something is off." Itachi said to the woman. "Why did you target Kazumi-chan?" he asked.

The woman gulped twice as her eyes once again darted between the three men standing in front of her. She looked like she wanted to say something but couldn't get the words past her lips. Itachi narrowed his eyes when she frantically began to shake her head. Her eyes were wild and she looked like she was about to have a breakdown.

Kakuzu joined them and his eyes was locked only on the child lying in the arms of the unknown kunoichi.

"What is your mission?" Itachi asked harshly.

Kakuzu stared at him and then the woman. Deidara was also watching her closely, they too understanding that something would soon go wrong.

"Why won't you speak, hm?" Deidara asked and narrowed his eyes at the kunoichi.

She was a pretty thing with her auburn colored hair and chocolate eyes but she was an enemy and should be treated no less than that.

Her shoulders tensed in frustration and Kakuzu was the first one who began to understand whatever it was she was trying to say.

"You can't tell." He stated and the second the words had left his mouth, the young kunoichi seemed to almost sag in relief as she gave him a thankful look and shook her head again.

"Open your mouth." Itachi instructed and by now, Kisame, Sasori and Hidan had also finished their fights. These shinobi had been awfully easy to defeat. When the women complied and opened her mouth, Itachi told her to stick her tongue out and when she did, they all saw the black seal on the back of her tongue. It had been placed there for a reason.

"This girl is not Kazumi-chan." Sasori deadpanned as he stared at the seal.

Both he and Itachi recognized the seal but none of them wanted to think in that direction at the moment. It would mean that more people than they were aware of knew about Kazumi's existence and as such her life would be even more on the line.

"What is your name?" Itachi asked as gently as he could allow himself to be when with the rest of the organization.

"Chiho." The woman answered softly.

"So you can talk as long as it doesn't directly affect whoever it was who placed that seal on you and the mission you have been assigned." Sasori drawled.

Chiho nodded, fear lighting up her eyes. Akatsuki knew that they weren't obliged to help the woman out but something about the young woman made them feel pity towards her.

"I never meant for this to happen." Chiho said and looked down at the girl she was still holding tightly to her chest. "We … we … we were … t-tricked." She stammered and Itachi got the impression that she was trying to tell them who it was that had tricked them.

"You know who took my daughter." Kakuzu said and narrowed his eyes at the young woman in front of him.

He didn't recognize the seal himself but he had clearly gotten the impression that both Itachi and Sasori was aware of who the seal master was. He turned to them and gave the two of them a look telling them to get talking.

"I remember picking up something about Shimura Danzō using this seal on Root members in Konoha." Sasori said.

Kakuzu seemed to pick up their train of thoughts pretty quickly and he growled as the understanding finally came down on him.

"Orochimaru have her." He concluded and every single of the men eyed him warily.

Kakuzu was almost sprouting horns and breathing fire from the wrath he was feeling. He should have known though. Orochimaru had always seemed a tad bit too interested in Kazumi to be entirely innocent. Orochimaru didn't take interest in anything unless he thought he could use them later on.

"Well that's fucking fantastic since no one knows a fucking thing about his damned whereabouts." Hidan swore in the background.

"Do you know the whereabouts of Orochimaru?" Sasori drawled the question to the woman and when she didn't nod but didn't deny either, the already knew that she indeed did know the whereabouts about the damned Sannin.

"Leader-sama is going to kill us for bringing an outsider into the organization, hm." Deidara pointed out and looked at Kakuzu.

"I don't care what he wants." Kakuzu snarled at the younger man. "She is my daughter and I will get her back even though it means that I have to defect from the organization."

"First damn time I'm going to fucking agree with you, dickhead." Came Hidan's reply. "Don't get fucking used to it, asshole."

Kakuzu didn't bother answering the immortal man and soon enough the others disappeared and left only the two adults and the child behind. Kakuzu glared at the two of them. He was still an S-class criminal and bounty hunter.

He sighed through his nose and walked over to pick the woman up, her still cradling the unknown child in her arms. He kept telling himself that he needed her to tell him where Orochimaru was keeping Kazumi and until they figured out how to remove the seal, she would have to stay with them.

The unknown child was just some unfortunate kid tagging along, that's all.

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Meanwhile, somewhere in an unknown hideout belonging to a most mysterious pale man, two children were having a rather amusing argument slash staring contest. The dark haired boy was staring at a small girl with dark brown hair, creepy looking eyes that were acid orbs with red sclera. The boy had dark coal colored orbs that was currently shining with anger.

"Stop staring at me you little freak." The boy snarled.

The little girl raised an eyebrow at him and stuck her tongue out.

"Then stop having hair like a duck's ass." She said and winked at him.

The boy was highly offended at that. How dared such a low standing creature _wink _at him, the mighty Uchiha Sasuke? Maybe the child had some kind of brain disease that made her unable to recognize anyone superior to her.

"I do not have hair like a duck's ass." The young Uchiha growled with faintly red cheeks.

He had to check his hair next time he had some time alone. Not because he believed her, he just wanted to … to ... to check up on the wound he'd gotten earlier that day when the little devil in disguise had decided to find her inner cat and use him as a scratching post.

"I swear on every dango in this world, you _do _have hair like a duck's ass." The girl insisted.

The Uchiha growled and stood with every intent on getting some target practice and who better to practice on than the little girl sitting right there on the ground beside him. She looked up at him and her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she noticed the rather sadistic gleam in those black orbs. She had a bad feeling about this.

"Sasuke-kun, please don't hurt her too much. She's an important guest of Orochimaru-sama." The silver haired young man with glasses said with a pleasant smile.

The girl's face contorted into a mask of horror as she realized she would be made a practicing target _again_. She let out a horrified squeak and scrambled up and in the opposite direction of the evil Uchiha, who flicked a kunai after her.

"You are so _mean_." The girl squeaked as she dodged the sharp weapon. "Who throws weapons at a five-year-old?"

The young silver haired man eyed the two of them and shook his head as he returned his eyes down to the clipboard he had been scribbling on. They had been able to capture a fine new specimen who would be quite the interesting one to experiment on. The young medic felt himself sigh in anticipation at the upcoming examination and experimentation.

Maybe he could get the younger man to tell him more about the so-called parallel universe he came from and who he was so determined to punish.

Exciting.

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The cells were placed on the lowest floor of Orochimaru's hideout and was by any means taken out of movie with medieval dungeons, complete with dripping drops of water, screams, rattling shackles and everything. In one of those though, a young man with black hair sat against the wall, his knees pushed up to his chest and his face hidden in them. The guards didn't really like him, not because they liked anyone down here, but because of the uneasy feeling they got whenever they neared the cell.

He kept mumbling about someone called Dru and how he would punish the person and take everyone that meant anything to this mysterious Dru from her. He kept describing things that didn't make any sense, like when he once mentioned something called an airplane. Or when they had demanded him to tell where he was from, he kept saying he came from some place called Australia.

There was no place called Australia in this world and there defiantly wasn't something like one of those airplanes he described.

It was all very mysterious and got only more mysterious when he suddenly began screaming that they were supposed to be dead because he had made sure they both died. Of course the guards had rendered him unconscious when they had gotten fed up with his nonsense.

Very mysterious indeed …

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**I kind of cheated with the fighting scene. I suck at it, so it was easier to just not write them. **

**What do you think? I have big plans for Chiho, Kakuzu, Kazumi and the unknown child and I love Kazumi's bratty five-year-old self and that Sasuke takes the bait every single time. **

**And what do you guys think about the last part?**

**Reviews, guys, as always I looooooooooooooove them. :-D**


	16. Chapter XV

**Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story but the grammar mistakes, Kazumi and every other OC and the plot bunnies. **

**Warning: Hidan. Grumpy people. Insane people. **

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It had been two and a half weeks already and I was getting seriously tired of waiting for the others to rescue me. I sighed and let my head drop face first onto the wooden table, groaning at the sharp pain when my face connected with the surface. When would they be here? How hard could it be to plow up the ground in the entire world until they stumbled upon the base which Orochimaru was hiding me at? I growled and pushed away from the desk I had been given so I could do my … _homework _… as the snake liked to call the bunch of scrolls on kinjutsu he had given me.

Who in the name of Jashin-sama would actually think it a fantastic idea to give a five-year-old scrolls with _kinjutsu_? I had merely stared at him with such a blank face, I felt Itachi would have been immensely proud of me had he seen it. With that said, I had read them – or two of them at least. It was that or staring at the walls while gradually losing my mind.

The first one had been filled to the brim with info about a _soul eating _jutsu there – as the name clearly suggested – gave the user the ability to eat another person's soul. Apparently someone had thought it to be a great torture method though unfortunately, the test subject had in the end gone insane because of the souls eating him up from the inside out. Not the inside as in his organs but his own soul and sanity.

It reminded me awfully much about Pain's jutsu, however, I couldn't imagine me doing something badass as that. When I gave it a thought, I imagined myself as a child version of _Ghost Rider_. I know, I know, it would have been extremely intimidating to have a five-year-old with a skull as head and engulfed in flames riding a three-wheeled bike with flames, swinging her spiky dolly around her all the while she sucked out the souls of the bad boogieman …

I sincerely doubted Hidan would be able to look at me ever again with a straight face. Even less so when I would unmistakably jump him and punish him for all the sins he had done. I would probably get a stomach ache after as I doubted I could stomach all of his sins.

I hadn't looked at the scroll containing that particularly kinjutsu a second time. It was just too ridiculous.

The second one had contained very scarce information about a jutsu that would apparently make one able to control everyone else with a simple thought. Because of the mind controlling ability it would grant the user with, I couldn't help but imagine Voldemort in Orochimaru's place, looking at me with a creepy smile and coaxing me into joining the Dark side. It wasn't much information I had been able to pick up from the scroll but it sounded more like the Imperius Curse to me than anything else.

Understandably, I had rejected that idea too because, let's face it, I wasn't a witch, not even remotely.

Because of the first two ridiculous kinjutsu, I had decided that the rest wasn't even worth the effort to unseal and then read the words … I was too damned lazy to do that …

I sighed again and kicked one of the scrolls that had landed on the floor when I'd had a hissy fit a couple of days ago and walked over to the door. I knocked once and waited for my bodyguard – that was Orochimaru's description, not mine – to open the door. The grumpy looking Oto nin glared irritably at me. I raised a hand in greeting.

"'Sup?" I asked him. "How's it goin'?" I added.

The Oto nin didn't look overly impressed with me and in fact, he looked even more irritated than seconds before. He had been the same guy all along and spending almost two and a half weeks with the grumpy nin had made me kind of fond of him … in a kind of I-pity-your-grumpiness manner. He hardly ever spoke to me unless he had to tell me to stop, move or what direction I was supposed to go whenever I decided to try my luck with the labyrinth Orochimaru called his evil lair.

Needless to say, my sense of direction had already been proven to be worth shit and I would often end up in what Orochimaru and Kabuto had insisted was off-limits to me. Naturally I only wanted to explore the area even more since they had told me not to go near that place again.

"I want to go tease the moody Uchiha." I informed him and he stepped aside with a deep and suffering sigh.

I glared at him but apparently the sigh had been a mistake because he was back to the grumpy, blank-face Oto nin I had become almost-fond of.

"Stick with me, kid, and you'll learn how not to be such a grumpy mood killer in no time." I told him and stepped out as I chose to go right, not missing the exasperated glare the Grumpy-san sent me.

I very much doubted I would be able to find the youngest Uchiha but I would do my very best and let Grumpy-san lead the way if I ended up in the labs like last time. I hadn't needed to see that place but damn my sick head to Hell and back a thousand times, I really wanted to go there again, although I would defiantly not seek the place out actively.

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_Sort of flashback here ..._

I was being dragged down the hallways with a hand firmly clasped down onto my neck by a very angry, very annoyed and slightly horrified grumpy Oto nin. He hadn't forgiven me for tricking him by pretending that I had to go on the toilet and then managed to slip past him but that was hardly why he was livid right now. You see, when I tricked him and therefore escaped him I had decided to wander off and let my feet take me wherever it was they would go and had by accident ended up in Sasuke's room. The boy had been in the shower and hadn't noticed me so I had taken the chance to snoop around his stuff.

Of course the Uchiha had to finish off his shower while I was still there and had walked in on me going through his drawer with underwear in nothing but his Adam costume. He had gone entirely stiff and I had gotten a good eyeful of naked Uchiha – with everything that came with it.

I couldn't help it, I had screamed in surprise and shock and horror at seeing _that _and _Sasuke's at that_. Sasuke had yelled out in surprise and quickly grabbed something to cover himself – which had been an Oto hitai ate Orochimaru apparently wanted him to wear.

I'd run out of the room with lightning speed and decided to hide in the first room I came across – which just so happened to be Orochimaru's damn bedroom. I had gone stock still and though I had just been scarred for life, I couldn't help being curious and had once again found myself snooping around in his private stuff. I had been through the underwear drawer, and many of the nonsense filled papers and a couple of scrolls too before I heard a very obvious fake cough.

"Are you finding my underwear, papers and scrolls to your satisfaction, Kazumi-chan?" Orochimaru asked with obvious amusement lacing his voice.

I had turned around while attempting to hide the boxers in my hand behind my back. Orochimaru raised a slender eyebrow at me and his lips twitched in amusement at my pitiful try to save some of my decency. I gave up with a sigh and tossed the boxers away from me.

"Tou-san taught me how to make money from everything. You probably have some fans somewhere in the world that would be perverted enough to pay me so they could get their hands on some of your underwear." I said and shrugged.

It wasn't even a lie. Kakuzu had been very careful in explaining exactly how to make money from nearly everything. I doubt he ever had this in mind when taught me to make my own money though. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree or whatever it is one say.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" he asked no one in particular and so I decided that my somewhat sarcastic comment would be better off unheard.

"I tried to get my hands on some of Sasuke's but he walked in on me with my hands in the cookie jar." I admitted and pursed my lips into a small frown.

The money I would have been able to make from just five of his boxers … Kakuzu would have been so very proud after he had been explained why I would run around with a boy's underwear in my hands.

"Then that scream was your doing?" Orochimaru asked and I nodded.

Of course he had heard it, how couldn't he? He had literally been just across the hallway. I'm pretty sure Akatsuki heard me too. Maybe that will get them to act a little faster and think a little lesser as I knew they were doing.

"I was practicing for my opera concert. Do you think the audience will like my voice?" I asked him seriously.

"Unless you want to destroy a couple of eardrums, perhaps you shouldn't put that much force into your voice." Orochimaru answered and didn't even miss a heartbeat.

"That wouldn't do." I agreed. "Alright, I'll take your advice." I nodded to him and my mouth twitched.

Orochimaru was looking at me with a slightly amused glint in his eyes and I could almost will myself into a false sense of security with the relaxed and humorous way Orochimaru acted. Almost is the magic word here, though. I sighed and steeled myself for the beating of the century as I opened my mouth to speak.

"I want you to let me go home." I said and managed to muster up enough courage to make it sound like a command more than a request.

_I was so going to die. I hope he'll at least kill me fast._

"And why would you want to go home?" Orochimaru asked me and the sheer stupidity of the question – not the man, never the man, damn it – made me gape at him before I bristled at the fact that Orochimaru were merely _humoring _me and making fun at me with the question at the same time.

"Because I don't particularly want to be raped by a child molester nor do I wish to become one of your damned lab rats." I snapped and promptly threw both hands over my mouth when the words had left the safety of my mouth.

Orochimaru's eyes darkened considerably at the insult I had slung at him and I took a step back when he stood up slowly and began to close the gap between us. I took another step back and began shaking uncontrollably when my back connected with the dresser and sucked in a mouthful of air when he was inches away from me.

I was dead meat. I just knew it. With a soundless whisper I send a prayer up to Jashin-sama or whoever the hell would watch over me and hoped for all that it was worth that someone would hear it and save me. Why had I said that anyway? Did my subconscious have overwhelming wish to die or something? Maybe my subconscious hated me with a passion …

The though itself was depressing enough alone – because I refused to believe that it was because I was merely stupid – the thought of my incoming death was most defiantly a depressing thought. It would be my fifth death and the fear of not knowing whether or not I would stay dead this time was the worst thing about it all. I doubt it is very healthy to keep dying.

"Orochimaru-sama, the brat, she's –" the door swung open and in came Grumpy-san in all his grumpy glory.

He cut himself off when he noticed me pressed against the dresser with wide and probably panicked eyes. He glanced between me and Orochimaru and for some reason, it seemed as if he managed to understand that Orochimaru was beyond pissed with me though he didn't know why and thank Jashin-sama or whoever it was that had heard my prayer, for that.

"I will take her to her room right away, Orochimaru-sama and will take the full responsibility for her escape." Grumpy-san said and bowed to Orochimaru.

Said snake finally removed those unnerving eyes from me and looked over his shoulder at Grumpy-san. He nodded once and moved entirely away from me and I wasted no time in hurrying over to the only familiar and not insane nin in this room and probably the entire hideout too. At least he had been the only Oto nin I had encountered who hadn't heatedly declared my nearing demise in a very graphic and imaginary way ... besides Orochimaru of course, but I just knew the snake thought about some extremely painful way to kill me in.

Grumpy-san grabbed my wrist in an iron grip and I winced slightly at the way he squeezed my wrist. He bowed once more and pulled me after him out of the room, going left without letting me go. I gritted my teeth at the pain until I had to yank my hand towards me as it began to seriously hurt. He let go of me with a surprised look on his face before schooling it into a blank expression. I rubbed my now sore and already bruising wrist and stared up at the man who had saved me.

He was currently mumbling to himself about Kami knows what and pulling his hands through his messy sand colored hair. He looked down at me briefly and then my wrist before hissing something and then grabbed my neck. For a moment I was afraid that he would snap it and kill me but then he began dragging me again and I could do nothing but follow him.

"You need to leave."

The words had me almost wailing in relief as he seemed to be the only person in this horrible place that agreed with me in terms of leaving the snake's evil lair. I looked up at him and nodded eagerly and my shoulders sagged slightly as the tension from my encounter with Orochimaru and the prospect of being kidnapped for whatever reasons slowly eased away and was replaced by the glimpse of freedom.

"Whatever it was you have done or said to Orochimaru-sama, he will not forgive that easily. I won't ask you to tell me what you did to make him that furious but I advise you to stay low once you're out of here." Grumpy-san said and nodded at something only he understood. "Get ready. I will do what I can to assist your escape."

He turned towards the door and I reached out and grabbed his arm reflexively. He stiffened and looked down where my hand held onto his arm with a very offended look in his eyes and I quickly released the appendage.

"Why are you helping me? Not because I'm not grateful or anything but aren't you supposed to be loyal to Orochimaru?" I asked him and struggled with understanding his reasons for helping me, which was clouded in foggy suspision.

Wasn't that treason or something? Wouldn't he get punished? The question was ridiculous as I already knew the answer to that. If anyone found out, he helped me – or tried to – he would surely be severely punished. For all that I knew, I was nothing but a glorified prisoner and helping a prisoner escape could be labeled treason. No doubt Orochimaru and Kabuto would cook up some horribly painful punishment and possibly death for him.

All because of me.

"I may be loyal to Orochimaru-sama but that doesn't mean I agree with everything he does. Kidnapping little children and experimenting on them are one of the subjects we do not agree with each other on." Grumpy-san said in a tone that clearly told me I should have known that and before I managed to say or do anything else, he left the room, effectively shutting my questions off.

I stared at the closed door and wondered what he had in mind when it came to me fleeing this shithole. Would he give me a key or something and expect me to outrun the rest of the Oto nin that would without doubt be ordered to capture me? I mean, I didn't try to tell myself that of course Orochimaru would let me go after literally accusing him of child molesting and whatnot.

I shook my head and looked around the room. Grumpy-san had told me to get ready but I hadn't really had the time to pack anything when I had been kidnapped so I didn't know how I should get ready unless he of course meant that I should prepare myself for being hunted by shitty nin with cruelty issues.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

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Uchiha Itachi didn't run to the meeting room, where a meeting with the rest of the members of Akatsuki had been ordered, when his crow summon suddenly landed on his shoulder, carrying news of Akatsuki's missing princess's whereabouts.

Itachi didn't smile either because of the good news and he didn't frown at the bad ones because that would be so unlike him, the world could just as well be going under to cause such emotions to appear on the Uchiha's face.

Kisame didn't see him skip three times either and he wouldn't dare to pretend he did because that would just piss the Uchiha off and he would much rather have an emotionally demented Uchiha than a pissy one. The thought of a pissy Uchiha Itachi would make even the best and brutal shinobi piss their pants and beg for mercy. Kisame wasn't a genius but he wasn't stupid and decided the best course of action would be to pretend it never happened.

"I know where Kazumi is." Itachi wasted no time on small talk as he didn't burst into the room, rather than walking in like the whole world could die and he wouldn't give a damn about it. "An anonymous tip given to my crow summon made it possible for Karasu to find the location of the place where Orochimaru is hiding Kazumi."

Kakuzu stood followed by Hidan and Konan and the father of the missing girl nearly went ballistic with joy. He had been one hell of a nightmare to be in company with and everyone had tried to stay clear from the man's frustration, worry and wrath but they had at the same time been compelled by their worry for the girl and pity for her father, to at least try and calm the miser down a little.

Pain hadn't any more patience for Hidan's endless howls of blissful pain or the screams of the other not-so-immortal victims of the miser. He had actually banned Kakuzu from killing – or maiming in Hidan's case – anymore.

"Spit it out then, pretty boy." Hidan snapped at the Uchiha.

He couldn't wait for the girl to get back home to her father. Hidan didn't mind pain but he wasn't able to sacrifice anything to his god while the miser was in this kind of bad mood and the god had been expressing his disapproval with this by punishing him with the not-so-blissful kind of pain … and the immortal man had to admit it had been awfully boring while the girl had been gone.

"She's in one of Orochimaru's hideouts north of Yugakure." Itachi informed them and didn't miss the face Hidan pulled.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me." Hidan complained and pouted at the thought of going near his former Village – even if it was to save Kazumi. "I seriously have to set fucking foot in that fucking pansy-ass country again? Seriously?"

Kakuzu glared at him and the priest quickly quieted down. He was very much aware of the short fuse Kakuzu possessed in the absence of his daughter and he also knew that Pain would force him to do all kinds of shitty missions if he didn't control his complaints that would shorten his partner's patience even further.

"Let's fucking go then. The faster we bring Kazumi back, the faster I can get a long fucking way _away _from that shitty place." Hidan grumbled and headed out the door without respecting the status as leader Pain held in his hands.

Honestly, the only one Hidan respected, was Jashin. That and his mother, but come on, all mothers were scary as hell when they were angry. Albeit he would never, ever in a million years and beyond admit such a thing to his criminal coworkers.

Pain gritted his teeth at the disrespect Hidan displayed but ended the meeting nonetheless. He just wanted everything to return back to the way it was before Kazumi got herself kidnapped. He sighed and shared a look with his partner who gave him a tiny smile in return.

One after one the S-ranked criminals exited the room and met with Itachi at the main entrance of the cave-like hideout to quickly go over their plan of rescue. Of course Kakuzu voted for just kicking in the door and slaughter everything and everyone being so unfortunate to cross their paths and Hidan was all in for that plan but Kisame were surprisingly the one to decline such drastic matter as it could force them into a situation they all wanted to avoid – Kazumi in danger.

With the miser getting more and more impatient with their lack of travelling, they all silently agreed that they could always go over the plan again or add more to it while travelling or when they reached the hideout of the snake Sannin.

Without surprise, Kakuzu pushed his evil coworkers hard – he just wanted to get his daughter back home and lock her up so she would _never _go and get herself injured, kidnapped or killed. He growled at the thought of his unlucky daughter with the shitty sense of direction but the growl lacked sincerity.

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**\\(•_•)/**

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Grumpy-san would always be Grumpy-san and he would never be anything but that – it just wasn't possible but when he entered my room and ordered me to be prepared I couldn't help it when I snickered and at the she's-gone-mad-look he gave me, I began cackling loudly which had to be a disturbing sight when it was a five-year-old doing the cackling and began singing 'Be Prepared' from The Lion King, a dearly missed favorite movie of mine.

He stared at me, turned around and hurried out of the room, slamming the door shut. I guess he didn't appreciate my amazing singing. Oh well, I would just have to sing it to myself then.

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**Hello. **

**I bet you all thought I had abandoned this story because of the long absence ... I haven't but I have been horribly lazy and are having a horrifying writer's block which seems to get worse ... ugh ...**

**At least I try ...**

**I felt this chapter disappointed me ... for some reason ... **

**I'm working on the next chapter so hopefully it won't be long before the next is up. The same with Kittens of Doom and Ame, so be prepared (I freaking love that song).**

**Reviews people, they keep the story alive.**


	17. Chapter XVI

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the original characters in this story, besides Kazumi and the other OC's. **

**Warning: Hidan is in a very foul mood. Grammar mistakes. You know, the usual. **

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**\\(•_•)/**

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In the evil lair of misfortune and unhappiness – for the unlucky at least – lived a young man with glasses and white hair. He was a skilled medic nin and Orochimaru's right hand man too. Orochimaru trusted him to the extent Orochimaru would trust anyone and he was a little proud of that.

However, just like his Master, Kabuto had at some point developed a taste of collecting anything unusual or unique – whether it be some kind of rare ninjutsu, a powerful kinjutsu … or a human with abilities unique only to him or her. Kabuto smiled thoughtfully as he passed the two Oto nin guarding the restricted area, forbidden for most people but Orochimaru, Kabuto and Sasuke, although the latter rarely ventured in there.

"Kabuto-sama." They spoke in unison and nodded their heads to him as he entered his favorite part of the hideout Orochimaru was currently inhabiting.

He returned their nods with one of his own out of politeness and made his way past the labs, past the arena used to examine new prisoners fighting styles and abilities and down a pair of stairs to the area with the cells. Some of them were empty, some of them were occupied by one or two prisoners. None of them had his interest or attention though, as he determinedly made his way to the very last cell that was occupied by a young and rather plain-looking man.

"Hello, Ribenji-san." Kabuto greeted the young man in the cell, once again mulling over the … special … name he had given himself.

He wondered briefly, like on so many other days, just _who _had driven this man to insanity and back again, left him in front of deaths door and forced him to take on a name that meant revenge. He didn't envy that particularly person.

"How are you today?" Kabuto continued and ignored the silent promise of torture, death and misery coming from the cell.

Sometimes the man would talk, sometimes he would scream and other times he wouldn't say a word at all. Sometimes he would talk about another world that from the sounds of it, had no chakra, no shinobi and was much more developed in ways of technology. He had studied every scroll in the large library of Orochimaru but had failed in finding any answers to this mystery world, Ribenji kept talking about.

"I have nothing to say to you, freak. Bring me my sister, bring me my Drucilla and I will answer every question you have." Ribenji said from the darkness within the cell.

Kabuto held the urge to sigh back. He had tried to track down a girl named Drucilla but had never heard the name before and the shinobi and kunoichi he sent out to find this mysterious girl would always return with empty hands and no knowledge about the whereabouts of the prisoner's sister.

"We have talked about this before, Ribenji-san. There exists no such person as the one you keep talking about." Kabuto said with a pleasant but not very sincere smile.

"Oh, but she does. When she died, I followed her here. She is _real _but probably goes under a different name." Ribenji said with a certainty, Kabuto found impressing, when talking about an imaginary person.

"I have sent shinobi out to find her but none of them have returned with knowledge about a girl suddenly appearing without any warning in any of the known lands." Kabuto told the young man and couldn't quite keep the mockery out of his voice. "Neither have anyone heard of the name 'Drucilla' before. Your so-called sister does not exist."

Ribenji glared at him but just as Kabuto thought he would start shouting profanities at him, Ribenji surprised him by turning his head away from him and ignoring him. By now, Kabuto had learned of the man's short and quite violent temper and his sadistic ways of punishing, maiming and killing people he thought had failed in some way or another. With the memory of the one time the man had been released into the arena fresh in his mind, Kabuto kept in mind that even though he was stronger when it came to physical strength and chakra, he wasn't a person to be underestimated.

He had a vague feeling that something bad would happen to the person he wanted so desperately to be found, if and when he did. Again, Kabuto didn't envy the other person.

Returning his focus on the cell and its inhabitant, he decided that this day was one of those days where he would get nothing new, old or remotely understandable from the prisoner and so, without caring to bid the other man goodbye, he turned and walked away from the block dimly lit block filled with cells. He ignored the pitiful prisoners begging for mercy or something else – a quick death perhaps – and thought about the scarce information he had been able to coax out of the very special prisoner. Perhaps it was time for Orochimaru to give the interrogation a try.

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**\\(•_•)/**

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I stared at my new-found ally in this horrible place with eyes wide as saucers and my jaw resting on the stone floor. My brain was screaming a thousand things at the same time, while ordering my body to do just as many things at the same time and I was in all honesty at a loss of what to do, think or even how to react.

"You did _what_?" I yelled at him and at the sharp look he gave me I huffed and repeated the same question again but much quieter this time. "Why did you do that?" I hissed at him and barely managed to keep my voice down.

He raised an eyebrow at me and I snorted at the silent question and crossed my arms across my chest.

"Of course I want them to save me but with the message your summon carried to Karasu, you've could have very much doomed them all." I hissed in a frustrated tone.

"I told them nothing but the truth." Grumpy-san said in a clipped tone as he stared down his nose at me.

I groaned and slapped my forehead, receiving another she's-gone-mad-look from the Oto nin.

"With _alterations_." I nearly shouted at him, not caring about the possibility of anyone hearing me at that exact moment. "You've made them think I'm being _tortured _and _experimented _on and are near deaths door."

"It's only a matter of time before you are." Grumpy-san said and his Sai-blank expression made me want to scream in frustration and rip my hair out. "I made them come for you. Appreciate it." Grumpy-san sniffed and left me alone in my room.

I stared after him and got this strong and sudden urge to run after him and give him a beating he would never forget so he would _never _attempt to lie to my family again, especially not with something like the lies he had written in that stupid note to Itachi.

I sighed and the thought about my father finding out about the crimes being committed towards his beloved daughter had me pitiying the Oto nin who wouldn't even know what hit them. I just hoped they would spare Grumpy-san's life. And Sasuke's but I doubted Itachi would allow any harm come to him.

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**\\(•_•)/**

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Itachi had forced them to stop about five miles from the area where the hideout was supposed to be. Kakuzu nearly saw red and Hidan too, but for other reasons than Kakuzu's.

"I feel like I should inform you about the possibility of not finding Kazumi alive." He said silently.

The group went rigid and their breathing stopped as they eyed the Uchiha with omnious shining eyes. Had Itachi been a lesser man, he would have dropped dead from fear.

"What do you mean?" Konan asked tensely and eyed Kakuzu warily.

The miser had stopped breathing and killing intent so intense, it almost choked them, leaked from him.

"Karasu brought a note from the anonymous aid. The person wrote about her being tortured and experimented on." Itachi said.

When they turned to look at the miser, he had vanished.

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**\\(•_•)/**

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I heard what sounded unmistakably much like an explosion or something being violently smashed into itty bitty pieces and knew that my escape would start now. Grumpy-san entered the room with tense shoulders and I sighed through my nose as I tried to calm my nerves. I knew I wasn't in any danger, at least no from Akatsuki or Grumpy-san but if any other Oto nin, Kabuto or Orochimaru got their hands on me before my father did, I would be used as a hostage, which I was in no hurry to be.

"It has begun." Grumpy-san noted as if I didn't have ears of my own.

"So it seems." I answered and readily walked towards him as he reached his arms out towards me.

He picked me up and walked to the door, looking up and down the hallway and chose to head left in the direction I guessed was towards the people finally coming to save me. I could hear screaming in the distance and covered my ears with my hands. Someone from my group of idiots had gotten their hands on some poor Oto nin.

Grumpy-san suddenly stopped and narrowed his eyes when we came to another hallway that went right and left and while at the same time continuing in the direction we were currently going. I looked up from his shoulder and prepared myself for the sight of maimed and bloody bodies spread out around us but no such thing met my eyes, something I was very grateful for.

"What way?" I asked Grumpy-san but he shushed me and I promptly shut my mouth.

Then suddenly, in the very same second my ears had registered running steps coming towards us, Grumpy-san was sprinting down the left hallway and I guessed that whomever it had been, it hadn't been anyone friendly or remotely close to being on our side.

The time I spent being carried around by Grumpy-san in a labyrinth-like hideout was tense and terrifying. Every time we would come close to a corner, door or something else where I couldn't see what was waiting behind or around it, I felt like time itself slowed down to a pace, that was horribly slow.

I was afraid, no, I was _terrified_.

"Someone is coming towards us." Grumpy-san murmured just loud enough for me to hear.

"Friend or foe?" I asked and begged to someone above that it was someone friendly.

"I don't know. Civilian chakra level. Probably a prisoner. But something doesn't feel right about his chakra …" Grumpy-san murmured and drifted off as he went through a bunch of handseals. Just in time, because not even a minute later, a young man with honey colored eyes and his blonde hair was unkempt and matted. I could smell him even from this distance and I wrinkled my nose at the guy but reminded myself that it probably wasn't his fault. By the looks of his ragged clothing, his bare and bruised feet and the slightly protruding cheekbones I doubted very much that he'd had any access to any kind of soap and cleaning utensils … or food for that matter.

I pitied him but at the same time I felt another kind of terror rising within me, eating me alive and I covered my mouth with my hand in an attempt of holding back the whimpers and screams I felt so compelled to let out.

His eyes were those of a madman. They were endless pits of insanity just waiting to be let out and I saw an image of two blonde children, one with brown eyes and the other with honey colored eyes, standing side by side and holding hands. The sorrow the image filled me with made me realize that this was a memory of something from my old life.

"Dru … my sweet Dru … I'll see you soon …" the man mumbled to himself, his eyes focused on the hallway before him and I paled.

I still remembered my old language to some extent and the words that had just left his mouth, the promised threat in them, made me realize that this person I had forgot the name of was looking for me. My eyes followed him as he walked right past us and I guessed that Grumpy-san had cast some kind of genjutsu on him for him to not notice our presence.

I had this ridiculous urge to cove my grumpy Oto nin in kisses when mysterious man related to me ventured down the hallway and away from us but I was afraid he would perhaps dump me on the floor and make me walk for the rest of our escape.

"Let's keep moving." Grumpy-san whispered when the young man had walked around a corner.

"That's a great idea." I agreed with him and he rolled his eyes at me. "I saw that." I told him and gave him a pointed look which he chose to ignore.

Grumpy-san continued down the hallway and suddenly I could hear much more screaming and Hidan's cackling and never in my life had I been happier to hear that insane priests high-pitched and manic laughter than now. Thank Kami/Jashin/Pain/God for a friendly face.

"Hidan-nii." I called out when we rounded another freaking corner and came face to face with Hidan in the middle of slaughtering three Oto nin with two already down.

He turned his head towards my voice and much to my surprise, his eyes darkened in what could best be describes as fury.

"What the fuck do you think you're fucking doing, you stupid girl?" he sneered at me.

I stared stupidly at him and thought about the possibility of Hidan having gone mad in my absence.

"How fucking stupid can you fucking be to get yourself bloody _kidnapped_, Kazumi? When your crazy father is done with you, I'm going to fucking punish you for going against the fucking _orders of staying inside_." He said in a vicious manner and I paled at the thought of his form for punishment.

"Hidan-nii." I said with quivering voice and tears gathering in the corners of my eyes, trying to compel to his love for me so he would spare me.

I would survive my father without doubt, but Hidan? Not so sure about that.

"Don't you fucking try to convince me about changing my fucking mind, because I won't." Hidan snapped at me. "Why do you fucking think we have a shit-load of rules made specifically for you? Do you fucking think you would have been fucking _safe _outside without any of us around you or fucking near you?"

Damn, the priest was really angry at me but I guess I could understand him. Though if Hidan was this angry … then what about Kakuzu?

Hidan abruptly turned his eyes on Grumpy-san and growled as if he had only just noticed the presence of the other man. He finished of the young lad who'd been stupid enough to try and fight him and the two others turned and fled without Hidan even sparing them a glance.

"And who the fuck are you, you fucking heathen?" He sneered at Grumpy-san and just as I was about to open my mouth to come to the defense of my grumpy bodyguard, I was snatched from his arms.

Confused I looked up and felt relief pour through my entire body at the sight of furious acid colored eyes so like my own. I hate to admit it but I couldn't help the quivering of my bottom lip and the few tears – sincere this time – that suddenly blurred my sight. I sniffed and buried my face into the shoulder of his cloak and grabbed the fabric in my hands as I clung to him tightly.

When the past two and a half weeks finally caught up to me, I found myself trying to silence the sound of my cries into his shoulder but when I felt him hold me tightly to him, every self-control I've might have had went right out the window.

I cried like a child as I felt the tension leave my body and the fear of not knowing what to expect in this hostile place closely behind it. I kept crying until I felt like I would faint from exhaustion and didn't register anything else going on around me as I with the speed of light felt asleep.

I had never been so ready to welcome the blissful darkness as I was in that moment.

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**\\(•_•)/**

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When I woke up again, I woke up in familiar surroundings and as I recalled the sight of my father and Hidan, I felt a relieved smile spread on my face. Finally, I was away from that terrifying place. I kicked the covers away from me and climbed out of bed.

"Tou-san?" I called and walked over to the door.

I opened it and looked up and down the hallway, praying that my shitty direction for once would take me to the right place. I wondered where everyone was. I would have figured they were with me when I woke up but apparently not.

"Tou-san?" I called again and was relieved when I heard footsteps coming close.

Kisame rounded the corner in the far end of the hallway and I made a funny noise in the back of my throat even I had troubles of understanding and the childish happiness I felt inside of me, compelled me to run to him. He noticed me and that big grin I liked so much spread on his face but with a nearly invisible tension in it, though I decided to let it pass and just be happy.

"Kisame-nii. I've missed you so much." I told him as I crashed into his right leg and hugged it tightly.

Kisame bowed down and picked me up and his grin changed to a smirk.

"I've missed you too, squirt. It's been empty around here without you." Kisame said and turned to carry me back the way he had come.

"I knew it." I grinned and then I frowned. "Is Zetsu-nii still alive? Or have you killed him?" I asked the blue man and his smirk widened to a grin again.

"Of course he is. If it weren't because his abilities were needed in the organization, I doubt he would have been alive still though." Kisame said and somewhere along the line, his voice had become dead serious and the smile that had begun to stretch my face, was abruptly gone again.

"I'm sorry for not listening to any of you." I murmured and cast my eyes down in shame. "I will never leave the hideout without one of you." I added quietly.

Kisame looked at me with an unreadable expression and then patted me on the head a little awkwardly and placed me on the floor when we neared the living room. I looked up at him and then towards the living room. I bit my bottom lip, suddenly nervous of walking into the lion's den.

"They won't eat you." Kisame said and walked past me to disappear into the living room.

I knew he was right but I also knew that – at least my father – was furious with my kidnapping and although none of them would blame me, they would scold me for it anyway. I sighed and before I could regret it and flee like some coward, I walked into the room. Every pair of eyes landed on me instantly and I felt myself shrink under the weight of their stares.

"Hey." I greeted lamely but none of them answered.

Then Konan came over to me and kneeled in front of me as she pulled me into a hug. I was surprised at first because even though Konan had a soft spot for me, she rarely ever got touchy with me or anyone else besides Pain and even the then she limited it down.

I wasn't going to pass up the chance for a comforting hug, so I threw my arms around her neck and clung to the older woman. She softly stroked my hair and rocked me from side to side as she offered me the comfort, safety and physical contact I needed right now.

"You're home now, Kazumi-chan." She whispered in my ear and all to soon she pulled slightly away from me to look me in the eyes. "You're safe now." She added and I heard the snort behind her.

I looked past her at Hidan with confusion written all over my face like a giant question mark and watched with some amusement as Hidan was whacked upside his head by Kakuzu. Konan's reassurance momentarily forgotten, I freed myself from the woman and walked over to Kakuzu and reached up to take his hand. He allowed me to and I craned my neck to look up at the much taller miser in front of me as Hidan walked over to the couches.

"Why do I feel like you're all either lying or holding something back?" I asked him.

"It's nothing, Kazumi. Don't worry about it." Kakuzu said but his tone didn't sound very convincing.

Deidara was the one to snort this time. I looked over at him but he crossed his arms across his chest and pointedly looked away from me. I got the feeling that something was wrong and looked over at Hidan sitting in the couch. He narrowed his eyes at me and for a moment I thought I saw something akin to sorrow and anger, though the anger wasn't directed at me.

"Something _is _wrong." I frowned up at Kakuzu and narrowed my eyes at all of them as I watched them over.

They concealed their emotions and Konan even refused to meet my eyes again.

"Don't keep it a secret from me." I said and released Kakuzu's hand. "What's wrong with me?" I added in a voice that was way too calm compared to the panic rising inside of me.

"Nothing's wrong with you, Kazumi." Sasori said in a flat voice and I turned my head to frown at him.

"Liar." I said and turned to Deidara. "Deidara-nii?" I asked him, the panic beginning to color my voice.

Deidara didn't turn his head towards me but his jaw tightened to the point it might break. I felt the panic even more now and I turned my attention to Hidan. I had always been able to count on him to tell me whatever it was no one else wanted me to know and I had no doubt that he would tell me this time too.

"Hidan-nii, what's wrong with me?" I asked him and couldn't help but look at him with pleading eyes.

Hidan's jaw tightened but his eyes softened for a moment before glancing at the other adults and then they hardened. He wanted to tell me, I could see it, but this time he wouldn't.

"I can't fucking tell you, Kazumi. I'm not fucking allowed to by these motherfucking idiots. They think it's better to keep you fucking oblivious." Hidan said and turned his head away from me.

I gaped at him and looked back at Kakuzu. He would never keep something dangerous from me, would he? Of course he wouldn't, I was his darling daughter. He would tell me if something was wrong me or if I was in danger.

"Tou-san, if something's wrong with me why won't any of you tell me?" I asked him with a panicked voice.

"Because everything is going to be alright." Kakuzu answered in a clipped tone as he lifted me up and carried me to the door.

He placed me on the floor and stroke my hair once and then turned halfway towards the rest.

"Go back to the bedroom. I will be back soon." He told me and shut the door in my face.

I gaped at him and what he had just done and then I uncertainly took a step to my right. I can't believe he didn't remember my horrible sense of direction. Something had to be seriously wrong with me making him and the others react like that.

I just hoped I wasn't dying. That would kind of screw up all of my plans …

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**Hello everyone. **

**There you go, chapter 16 of A Daughter's Dream. Now, things are bound to happen soon and I feel compelled to warn all of you that in the next chapter or the one after, you'll all know what is wrong with Kazumi that have the Akatsuki so tense. Some of you will most likely not like it but I have to use it though _not in the traditional way_ ... I know, I know, some of you - if not all - probably have already figured it out but I know that it's probably not the most popular choice for some people, but PLEASE bear with it until it's explained further. Please. I like the support I'm given (and the story) with all the favs, follows and reviews. :)**

**Now, with that said, remember I said at some point that the story would get darker the further we get in it? Yeah. That will happen gradually from now on, so be prepared. I still have trouble giving this story a genre because I don't feel like it fits into the angst/horror genre at all ...**

**And if any of you know of a person who would be willing to be my beta, please send me a PM. I feel like the story could use a beta, lol.**

**Besides all that, lately, I've been feeling like I'm shrinking ...**

**Reviews everyone, I love them and they keep the story alive. **


	18. Chapter XVII

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does. Kazumi and all the other OC's are mine though, so don't touch them.**

**Warning: ... I don't know what to put up here, actually ...**

**Note: A semi-important author's note at the bottom ... Just don't jump to it right now, since that would destroy the entire chapter.**

_ Text like this is Kazumi speaking in her mind _

_\- Text like this is an unknown force speaking to Kazumi in her mind -_

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It had been three days now. Three days with eight extremely tense criminals and lots and lots of avoiding me as if I had the plague. The only one _not _trying to actively avoid me, was Hidan though he was still tense as fuck. Kakuzu couldn't avoid me all day since we shared a room but besides that, half of the time he would though.

I was pissed and hurt and confused. I had checked my body as good as I could with no mirrors because they had all suddenly disappeared from the base but I had still to find anything that could give me a clue as to why they were all – with the exception of Hidan – actively trying to avoid me.

I sighed as I watched Hidan try to sew a hole in his cloak. He wasn't very good at it to be honest and the sight of him sitting cross-legged while his tongue stuck out in concentration and his eyebrows was knitted tightly together was kind of amusing but after an hour of watching Hidan and listening to his absurd curse words – he had recently begun inventing his own – even that became boring.

I groaned and rolled over to bury my face into Hidan's pillow and didn't notice him looking up at me nor did I notice the furious stare he directed at the door not long after that. I wanted to scream or cry or just throw a tantrum. I groaned again but the sound was swallowed by the pillow.

"Kazumi, stop fucking groaning." Hidan snapped at me, making me look up at him. "It makes you sound like a fucking dying triceratops." He added and looked back down at his cloak.

With a string of colorful and imaginary curse words, he threw the cloak away from him and fell backwards onto the floor. He cursed again when his head connected with a loud donk. Then he fell silent. I looked at him and for a moment there, I felt the urge to make him suffer for his way of speaking to me. The thought had only lasted for half a second, however the horror I felt upon realizing I had wished harm, serious harm, upon a member of my wicked family, had me tensing up.

With a mix of horror and embarrassment I got up from Hidan's bed and walked towards the door, stepping over the priest on the way.

"Sorry, gotta go." I called to him and quickly fled the room.

Without thinking too much where my feet were taking me, I furrowed my eyebrows and lost myself in my thoughts. The feeling that had followed that thought could best be described as pure rage and a bit of bloodlust. Sure, I'd felt the urge to smack a couple of the Akatsuki-members though it had never come down to actual killing intent or anything remotely close to it.

"What's wrong with me?" I asked myself out loud as I stopped and placed my hand on my forehead.

_\- We're fine. -_

I jumped at the sound of the unknown voice that had suddenly spoken and looked around in fear but I didn't see anything but walls, floor and ceiling. There wasn't even anywhere someone could actually hide from me.

\- _I'm inside your head, idiot. -_

I stilled and my eyes widened. Maybe I had developed another personality like Sakura? Shit, I really hoped I hadn't. The organization already had Zetsu …

"Who are you?" I asked aloud and quickly looked around again in case someone had found me.

I doubt talking to myself indicated that I was mentally healthy and they might feel the need to strap me to a bed for an unknown amount of time.

\- _You. -_

Well, that wasn't the answer I had been looking for, I thought to myself as I began walking again. Because, yes, walking solved everything. Note the sarcasm?

\- _You should punish them. -_

I glared straight ahead, imagining the voice in my head could see it. Even though no names had been mentioned, I knew who it was talking about. I growled and walked a little faster.

\- _They aren't worth your time. -_

The voice whispered the words and I felt the temptation latch onto me. I imagined I heard the voice sneer for a moment and then I was gripped by the sudden urge to kill someone. As in torture and _then _kill whatever miserable life that had fallen prey to me. I wanted to hurt them as they had hurt me but even as the thought of them suffering brought me satisfaction, I was even more disgusted at the drastic turn my thoughts had taken.

_ Piss off, asshole. _ I thought and concentrated on pushing the creepy and defiantly evil voice to the darkest parts of my mind.

\- _You'll give in. -_

I laughed a mirthless laugh and then felt the unknown and unwanted presence release its hold on me and sighed in relief as I found myself standing in front of the kitchen. With a small frown I entered the room and saw Kisame, Deidara and Hidan sitting at the table. They looked up and immediately tensed. I couldn't stop the growl that escaped me and the narrowing of their eyes told me that they didn't appreciate it.

"I'm just going to grab an apple and then I will leave you all alone again." I snarled at them and walked to the bowl filled with fruit on the counter. "I wouldn't want to make you all too uncomfortable with my presence." I added and grabbed a green apple.

"What's up with you, un?" Deidara questioned and his eyes moved briefly to a spot to my left before returning to my face.

"Oh, I don't know. Perhaps it's the fact that you're all freaking avoiding me like I'm contaminated with some deadly disease?" I sneered and wondered where all this anger came from, where the need to _hurt _came from.

Hidan stood and walked over to grab me by the front of my shirt and lifted me up to stare me down with fuchsia colored eyes. He was angry but if it was me or just the whole situation that made him angry was a question I couldn't answer.

"You better fucking tell me what's fucking wrong, Kazumi. We can all feel the fucking bloodlust rolling off of you." He told me with a barely contained snarl, as I struggled against his hold.

I was drowning in pure rage and bloodlust. I snarled at Hidan and reached up to try and scratch his eyes out at the very least. I could feel the presence of the same unknown thing as before but this time the rage and bloodlust following it closely barely left me with any self-control.

_Hurt them. Make them suffer like you have been._

I fought against the urge to do exactly that but didn't want to do it. I growled and snarled and for a moment I imagined myself to look like a rabid dog in the three men's eyes.

"You … need to suffer …" I growled in a tone I barely recognized as my own. "Hurt you like … you … hurt me."

I was ripped away from Hidan and came face to face with Kakuzu and his oddly colored eyes filled with worry, despair, anger and fear. He had my arms in an iron grip and held me at an arms distance from him so I couldn't kick him no matter how much I tried.

"You need to fight it, Kazumi. You _have _to." Kakuzu ordered me as Deidara and Kisame made their exit and Hidan stepped away from us.

"Why should I?" I snarled even though every fiber in my body told me to comply to his demand.

"Because you are stronger than it." Kakuzu told me.

I glared at him and slowly felt the rage and bloodlust fade away. I brought memories of the years I'd had in this world, all the big things and small things that made me love these people enough to sacrifice myself for them.

\- _But what about all the pain they have brought upon you? Does that not matter? -_

Against my will, I remembered the times Kakuzu left me behind. I remembered being held hostage by a bounty he and Hidan had been trailing for a time and the sadistic nature the bastard had as he had beaten me half to death. I remembered when I had been hit by a kunai in my shoulder when Deidara and Hidan had been arguing to the extent that they had both forgotten me which had left me as a living target when they had begun throwing kunai and shuriken at each other.

Rage filled me again and I growled as the memories bombarded my mind and I tried to hit Kakuzu with a kick as I flailed helplessly in front of him. Kakuzu's eyes was filled with sorrow for a moment when I felt a sharp pain at the back of my neck and then darkness took control of everything.

They had fucking knocked me out.

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**\\(•_•)/**

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**Kakuzu P.O.V.**

He had never imagined himself to love another human higher than he loved money, but the five-year-old girl which now hung limply in his grip had proven to him that it was possible. He would, if needed be, give up any wealth, any amount of money, if only it meant that Kazumi would always be happy.

Hidan stepped away from the girl and gave him a look that clearly told him to tell Kazumi the truth of what was wrong with her. He had wanted to, honestly, but to admit that he had failed his daughter, the only good thing he had ever made, had been so very hard he had instead found himself avoiding her even though he knew how much it hurt her.

"She's fucking suffering, bastard." Hidan sneered at him and stalked out of the kitchen.

He wanted to deny the truth of his partners words but how could he with that damned Mark on her neck? He looked down at the Mark in question and wrinkled his nose in disgust at it. Orochimaru had managed to surprise them at his hideout not long after Kazumi had passed out and had out of spite – and probably his own sick amusement – managed to sink his fangs into her neck. Kakuzu had ripped him away from her not a moment later but if only led to the Curse Mark being half-done.

Sasori had examined the Mark once they had reached the hideout and had confirmed Kakuzu's suspicion about the Curse Mark to be true. It was only half of what it was supposed to be and as such it left Kazumi in a vulnerable position. Sasori had some sparse knowledge about Orochimaru's Curse Marks but they had all been complete, yet only a few of who it was placed upon, survived. With Kazumi's half Curse Mark, they had no idea of how it would affect her or if it would kill her.

She didn't seem to get any more strength than before and honestly; it had taken three days before they had noticed a change in her behavior at all. They had almost believed that it wouldn't do anything but then late yesterday evening, they had all been gathered in the living room, with Kazumi half-sleeping in his arms, when they had felt an enormous bloodlust fill the room to the point of their own bloodlust responding to it. At first they had thought someone had been able to sneak into the base but then Deidara had noticed that the source of it was coming from Kazumi.

Kakuzu gathered the unconscious girl in his arms and began walking back to their bedroom. Kazumi's Curse Mark apparently fed itself on whatever negative emotions filling her until it became the sole driving source inside of her. Her hateful eyes had been the evidence of that.

Kakuzu felt helpless. For the first time since his childhood did he feel helpless and without the strength needed to protect the only person in this world that mattered more to him than money. He had failed her and Kakuzu doubted he would ever be able to forgive himself for that, especially when more and more of her Curse Mark would be cast into light. He had failed in protecting her, and now Kazumi was the one to pay the price for his failure.

Lying the girl down onto his bed, he stared at her for a moment, desperately trying to figure out what to do. What could he do? Nothing. He grunted, tugged the girl under the covers when he noticed her shivering and then laid down on the covers on his side, facing her. For now, he would offer her safety which she desperately needed at the moment.

Tomorrow – and every tomorrow after that – was shrouded in uncertainty and he would rather not think of the possible outcome if Kazumi wasn't able to control the Mark. He listened to her even breathing and closed his eyes.

What a horrible parent he was, he thought. Even with all of his strength, he hadn't been able to protect her.

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**\\(•_•)/**

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**Hello my lovelies. **

**Yes, Kazumi have a Curse Mark though hers isn't functioning normally as Orochimaru wasn't able to complete it before he was ripped away from her. She won't be given any super strength, neither will she be able to access any state of her Curse Mark that other's with Curse Mark's can. The only thing that she will get, however, is a Curse Mark that feeds on her negative emotions and makes said emotions much stronger. **

**Again, this story isn't a happy story and it will probably only get worse from here on.**

**On the other side, Kakuzu feels pretty bad for not being able to prevent this from happening to Kazumi. I kind of understand that ... I would have probably felt like a shitty/horrible parent in a situation like that too ... **

**I almost felt sorry for the suffering I'm forcing Kakuzu and Kazumi to go through ... **

**I felt that Kakuzu's time on stage was a bit confusing and somewhat rushed, but I really wanted to get as much pushed into his part without making him completely OOC. I don't think I succeeded. **


	19. Chapter XVIII

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Only Kazumi and the other OC's are mine. Don't mess with them, folks. **

**Warning: Uh ... Dark-ish chapter ahead. A little fluff in between if you squint your eyes a little.**

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**\\(•_•)/**

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Kakuzu was very protective of his daughter to the extent where he'd gotten many amused looks from his criminal coworkers in the past five years. Once, when Kazumi had demanded them all to take her to a festival in a nearby village for her birthday, she'd managed to get lost rather quickly. When Kisame, Hidan and Kakuzu had found her, they'd had also found a group of five older boys bullying her.

Before the two others even had the time to react, Kakuzu's father instincts had kicked in and had sent him stomping towards the group. Kazumi had been the first one to see him and he'd caught a glimpse of something wet in the corner of her eyes and a bruise forming at her temple, which really hadn't helped the boys at all. When the four of them had met up with the rest of Akatsuki, Kisame and Hidan had retold the story of how Kakuzu had placed the boys in a genjutsu so terrifying, they'd pissed themselves. When he'd released them from the genjutsu, he'd stared them down with so much malicious intent, the brats had shit themselves.

Even though Pain and Konan had to reprimand the father, they hadn't really meant the words they'd said to him. At least Kakuzu hadn't killed any of the boys, probably just scared them enough so they would never bully someone out of fear that someone ridiculously powerful would pop by and scare the shit out of them again.

It had been funny back then and even Kakuzu had been slightly amused by it but that was all in the past. He had begun to doubt that he could protect Kazumi. Orochimaru would try to seek her out again, he'd hinted that much when he had approached them in his hideout, seconds before he'd placed his damned Curse Mark on her.

Kakuzu hid his face in his hands as he tried to work out a cure or whatever for the girl but the only thing that came to mind was a sealing master. He knew Jiraya of the Sannin was the best sealing master out there but he couldn't risk Jiraya finding out about Akatsuki prematurely. They may be strong but Pain had been very specific that the group as a whole wasn't ready to the kind of attention it would cause if Jiraya did find out and so Kakuzu was forced to think of another option or at the very least, seek out another sealing master.

"The Curse Mark isn't working like it would if it had been complete." Sasori said from behind him.

The tanned man looked up and over his shoulder at the redhead. He wanted to roll his eyes at the man. As if he didn't know that already. Sasori stepped inside the room and closed the door, his eyes wandering briefly to the small girl lying beside her father in the bed.

"I've asked around in my spy network. Three of my spies knows of the Curse Mark though what they have told me, doesn't bode well for Kazumi's mentality. A Curse Mark have a part of Orochimaru's consciousness in it and I suspect it is the same with Kazumi's." Sasori said and watched Kakuzu. "An incomplete Curse Mark shouldn't be possible and if it were, she should have been dead. Even the complete Curse Marks have a very low survival rate and it more or less corrupts the mind of its host – I would call it parasitic."

Kakuzu snapped at the other man. A growl emitted from the back of this throat and only when Kazumi moved, he quieted down. He turned his gaze away from the redhead and focused his attention at his daughter.

"Why are you telling me this?" He asked the other man with a barely concealed growl.

"Because I want to let you know that an incomplete Curse Mark is an abnormality and that there is no knowledge that I have access to that can predict any effects it might have on Kazumi. I want to prepare you because I too have gotten attached to the brat and I won't see her suffering. You might want to keep the possibility of her death in mind too – whether you or one of us kill her, she kills herself or the Curse Mark kills her, I can't say but the possibility is high." Sasori said and in all honesty, Kakuzu wanted nothing more than to snap the puppets neck, though it wouldn't really help, unless he of course impaled his heart too.

Sasori was strong, Kakuzu would acknowledge that. His heart could become a valuable asset for him if the organ could be used. Pain would punish him but right in that moment, Kakuzu couldn't care less what Pain would and would not do. No one spoke of such a dark future of Kazumi, unless they wanted to deal with his wrath.

"Get out." Kakuzu growled and it took all of his willpower not to kill the puppet where he stood.

Sasori huffed in annoyance and turned to the door. He paused at it, looking back at his colleague.

"Letting her suffer would be much crueler than showing her mercy." Sasori said and disappeared out of the door.

Kakuzu was left alone with his thoughts then. Sasori had planted the seed and all of the possible outcomes he'd spoken of wasn't something the former Taki nin would dwell on too much. He would find a way to help her before those three options became a reality. He touched the softness of the girl's dark brown hair and a determined look entered his eyes and expression.

He had failed Kazumi too many times that he would let it happen again.

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**\\(•_•)/**

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I woke up with a killer headache and for once I found someone in the room with me. Kakuzu was lying on his side, facing me and sound asleep. And by sound, I mean sound. Soft snores emitted from him and I had to force back the urge to laugh as the prospect of a snoring Kakuzu was all too amusing. Hidan had claimed that he snored, but I had never heard it myself as Kakuzu would always be the one the rise first.

"Tou-san?" I whispered and he grunted as he rolled onto his stomach, nearly crushing me though I managed to get away before it came to that.

I wanted to wake him up and spend some time with him as the time we'd spent together could be counted with one hand for the past couple of months. I missed him and his small and gruff way of teaching me different things or the awkward ways he would play with me and of course the quiet times we spent together. I missed it all … even his insane training regime.

"Tou-san." I said a little more firmly.

I was very careful about touching him or make any loud and sudden noises or movements. He may be my father but he was first and foremost a shinobi and the reflexes that come with that career was deadly accurate even if he was sleeping. Once I tried to sneak past him so I could steal some ice cream from the kitchen … well, I only managed to move a hand before he woke up and asked me what was wrong.

"Kazumi …" he muttered and cracked an eye open at me. "Go back to sleep." He said and closed his eyes again.

I glared at him and at the way the corners of his stitched mouth twitched, I had no doubt he knew what I was doing. I raised my hand and hit him on his shoulder as I huffed at him. He pretended it surprised him and opened his eyes fully to look at me.

"Why are you hitting me?" He asked me with mock hurt voice.

I cracked a small smile at him. I loved when he would play with me. I raised my hand to hit him again but with the speed of a nin, his hand shot out and wrapped around my waist. I jumped in surprised and when the other hand joined the first and lifted me up, only to start throwing me up and down, I was in tears. It tickled and it didn't take long before my laughter and squeals filled the room.

"St-stop, tou-san. It-it … it t-tickles." I hiccupped between laughter and he complied with my command.

"Now go back to sleep." Kakuzu said and smirked at me as he closed his eyes again.

"No way. I can't sleep now. I'm totally awake now." I said and rolled my eyes at him.

He grunted at me and I rolled my eyes again. My fingers found his stitches on his arm and even though I knew I wouldn't be able to pull the stitches up and let them snap back down on his skin without his help, I couldn't help but think it amusing. It kept me occupied for a short while as we descended into comfortable silence.

Of course, Hidan chose that very moment to barge into the room with a wild look on his face. Kakuzu's eyes snapped open and he propped himself up on his elbows and glared at the priest, who returned his glare with one of his own. Then Hidan turned his eyes to me and looked me up and down.

"Have you told her yet?" Hidan asked and turned his eyes back to Kakuzu.

Kakuzu growled and refused to meet my eyes when I looked to him for answers. Suddenly, the comfortable peace we'd just shared was gone, replaced with a tense silence instead.

"Told me what?" I asked the two of them as I realized Kakuzu wasn't going to spill it that easy.

Hidan looked at me and then at Kakuzu. My father growled a low warning at him but Hidan never really gave a shit about warnings. He would often just waltz directly into trouble without thinking things through. It was a carelessness he'd gotten over time while being immortal. In all honesty, I couldn't really hold it against him. I would have probably turned out like that too if I had to face the prospect of being unable to die no matter what.

"Orochimaru bit you-" but was interrupted before he could say any more when Kakuzu was suddenly in front of him and dragging him out of the room by the collar of his shirt.

He hadn't needed to tell me any more than that though. I felt my neck on both sides and could feel a rigged area on my left side, as if my skin had been marred by something. I narrowed my eyes in thought with my hands still holding onto the place where I guessed the Mark was. I hadn't really felt any different and wondered if that was normal – besides the voice in my head of course and the temper.

In the anime Sasuke had been able to access some of the power the Curse Mark had given him shortly after he gained consciousness in the Forest of Death. He had been angered at that time when he'd seen Sakura hurt but still, I had been pissed in the kitchen, and I had defiantly not felt any more powerful than a week before that.

"He didn't complete it, un."

I jumped at the sound of Deidara's voice and snapped my focus to him. He was leaning against the doorframe with a carefully neutral expression and was watching me carefully. Now that I knew what was wrong with me, I suspected he was looking for any sign that I might snap like I'd done in the kitchen.

"Why?" I asked him and furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

I couldn't recall any characters in neither the anime nor manga having an incomplete Curse Mark and if there were, I doubt any had survived it. Even the complete Mark had a low survival rate.

"Kakuzu ripped him away from you the second he bit you, un, preventing him from completing the jutsu. That's also why your skin feels ripped or marred. You lost a good amount of blood to the point where Sasori had to give you a minor blood transfusion, un." Deidara told me and watched as I frowned at him.

Seems like I had a flair of getting either seriously hurt, in big trouble or killed. Life was weird. One minute it loves you and will give you everything, the next it hates you and tries to kill you.

"Why haven't tou-san said anything?" I asked him and felt a little hurt that he had chosen to keep something so serious like this a secret from me.

"I guess it's difficult to admit that you've failed the one you love the most, un." Deidara said and turned his head away from me. "We all feel that we've failed you, un."

I stared surprised at him. They'd come and rescued me even though Grumpy-san – Kami, was he even alive? – had to help them. They hadn't left me there and neither had they been too late. I didn't feel like they'd failed me in any way – more like _I _had failed _them _by ignoring the rules and even getting Zetsu dragged into this mess.

"You haven't failed me. None of you have." I told him dumbly. "Why would you feel like that? I mean, I'm not dead."

Deidara turned his head towards me and gave me an impressive glare. He pushed away from the doorframe and took three steps towards me, which made me crawl backwards. He stopped when he noticed the movement and frowned at me before that neutral expression returned.

"How many S-ranked shinobi is in this organization, Kazumi?" Deidara asked me and kind of threw me of balance with that question.

I frowned but did a quick counting with my fingers, earning myself an amused look from Deidara. It wasn't my fault math was a bitch … and no matter what, I knew them by names, not numbers. I always seemed to forget how many of them they were but their names? No fucking problem.

"Ten." I answered him.

He nodded at me and his eyes I had always found beautiful was filled with sadness for a moment there.

"We are ten S-ranked shinobi in this organization and none of us could prevent you from getting kidnapped. None of us could find you and none of us could prevent you from getting that Mark, un. We felt, _feel_, useless." Deidara said and tugged slightly on his ponytail, something which I had noticed he would do if he was deep in thought, embarrassed by something or uncomfortable.

"You didn't fail me. I'm not dead and you came for me. Who cares about a stupid Mark?" I said and rolled my eyes at the end of my sentence.

"That's the problem, Kazumi." Deidara snapped at me with thick frustration in his voice, staring me down with steely eyes. "We know nothing of your Mark and what we _do _know about a complete Curse Mark is that it doesn't always bode well for the subject's mentality, un. You are the first person ever to have an incomplete Curse Mark and it may very well cost you your mentality and who would you be then, un?"

I was about to open my mouth and tell him off for that – I would survive this because I was a coward and a weakling – but then Kakuzu returned and looked at me then Deidara. The blonde narrowed his eyes but turned and left, leaving the two of us in silence.

"What did he tell you?" Kakuzu asked with tense voice.

"Everything." I answered and looked down at my free hand. "Is it true? Do you feel like you've failed me?" I asked him and looked up at him again.

He was frowning so very hard and didn't answer me. Instead he walked over to the bed and sat down. I gave him the time he needed to find the words he wanted to find but couldn't. I had too much to think about anyway and didn't mind the silence at all.

It was all very strange for me and I had a hard time to adjust to the concept of me having a Curse Mark – complete or incomplete didn't matter for me, I didn't want it at all. Deidara's words had already been planted; Who would I be if I was no longer _me_? I sighed inwardly and was instantly filled with the uneasy feeling of not being alone. Well, that was another thing I didn't want.

_\- You're hurting my feelings. Who said I can't be of any help? -_

I imagined myself glaring at the presence inside of me with all the wrath I could possibly muster in an attempt to make it clear that whatever it was – defiantly not that creepy child molester, that would just be depressing – wasn't appreciated or welcome.

\- _I can feel the love. - _It commented wryly and I got the impression that if it could, it would give me a highly unimpressed look.

I was about to retort something – inside of my head, of course – but just that exact moment, Kakuzu chose to cough to gain my attention. I shifted a little and turned to look up at him but he stared down at his hands, avoiding my eyes. Deidara's words came to the front of my mind and I felt sad that Kakuzu, my big and strong father, would feel like that.

"I failed you and because of my weakness, you had to pay a horrible price." He muttered and I felt my heart clench in my chest.

I had the same opinion like most kids had, the 'my-dad's-invincible'-one, and to hear him call himself weak, no matter the circumstances, was heartbreaking. I know that I may have felt abandoned before but the feeling of being left behind vanished instantly.

"You haven't failed me. Neither have Deidara or the others." I told him with a soft voice, making Kakuzu glance down at me. "We'll figure out something with the Curse Mark, don't worry." I added as an attempt of reassuring him.

Kakuzu looked down at me with an unreadable expression. Suddenly he pulled me into a rare hug and I gaped at first, before returning it.

"You are a strange kid, Kazumi." He told me quietly and released me as he stood up and I shrugged at the statement.

I couldn't really argue against it.

_\- How sickening sweet. - _Came the murmur of the voice inside of my head but I forcefully pushed it away.

I wasn't in the mood to listen to it.

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**This chapter have been done for some time now, I just wanted so bad to upload two chapters at a time so I kept waiting to upload it, though I have to admit, I feel bad for letting you all wait for so long. :-( **

**The next chapter is almost done (I think). I'm working on it at least. I'm getting nowhere with this story and have no idea where it's going. I'm just writing random things.**

**Besides that, I feel so sorry for Kakuzu ... I'm such a cruel authoress ... **

**Sorry for the long wait, guys. **

**Reviews, they keep the story alive (and I love them).**


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